Healers and Slayers
by Tanith Panic
Summary: Dr Dylan Keogh has a feeling that something strange is about to happen. Other members of staff have unaccountable dreams and premonitions. Then unquiet souls from hundreds, thousands of years ago, join the staff of the night shift at Holby ED. Warning: Character deaths throughout. Freechamp, Dyfty, Zax and more.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an idea I've been wanting to try for some time. Character deaths will occur throughout because of the nature of this plot. A quick note on this first chapter; I have actually read a story set in Imperial Russia where one of the characters was called Rita.

"They'll come for me soon. I'm afraid."

Princess Rita Danova lay with her head on the Countess Constantia Feldova's chest as they reclined upon a chaise lounge.

"I won't let them take you, Rita, dushenka. I love you. I still have servants that are loyal to me and they've arranged for us to go to the border in disguise. Then a train to Finland, on to Europe, and we'll be safe."

"At least you'll be safe", thought the Countess ruefully, "They don't like my kind in Europe. Still, if I continue to be careful, they need never know what I am."

The small blonde shuddered.

"Why don't they realise, Stantia, we're not all greedy. I never liked the Tsar or his snotty German wife." She laughed but the laughter held sorrow. "Strange, I was always afraid of the Tsar's secret police finding out my feelings. Now it's the Bolsheviks…"

The women both trembled as they heard the knocking on the door.

"Countess! Quickly! They're coming!"

Hearing her old servant, Dmitri, she reluctantly left Rita's arms and opened the door. It was indeed Dmitri… with two men in Bolshevik uniform behind him."

"Apologies, pretty lady, they paid me more than you did. It's a dog eat dog world now."

The old man spat at Constantia, who looked at him in contempt.

"Oh you'll pay for your greed."

"You two are coming with us to face trial for being enemies of the people."

"Take me, but let Rita go. She's innocent, and the things I've done to make life more difficult for the Tsar should surely mean something."

"It's no good fighting the aristocracy if you take one of them for your whore, you perverted bitch!"

Before Constantia could realise what they planned, one of the Bolsheviks took out a pistol and shot Rita point-blank in the chest. She collapsed into the Countess's arms.

"You will pay for this, you – if only I'd been quicker…"

"Stantia… I love you…"

The severity of the Princess's wound left Constantia no time to save her. She gave a little choking gasp and died. Laying her down gently, Constantia turned and faced the murderers.

"We'll not leave you looking as pretty as your slut."

The pistol fired again, shattering Constantia's beautiful face. Before the killers had time to gloat, however, Constania's face healed instantly. She made a sound that could only be described as a hiss, and, leaping on Dmitri, tore out his throat with her fangs. She drained his blood then spat it on the floor. The two Bolsheviks fired at her, then realised their bullets were making no impact. She was upon them.

"Please, Countess! A deal!",slobbered the first one, abject with terror.

"You broke all deals when you killed my love."

She fed on them and watched them die whimpering for mercy. Then, holding Rita once more, she whispered:

"They say we all come back…. I'll find you again, my love, if I have to wait for years."

After she'd buried the woman she loved, leaving no marker on the grave for the spiteful Bolsheviks to find, she arose and disappeared into the endless night sky.


	2. Chapter 2

Caleb Knight 1695

Henry Purcell, composer-in-ordinary to King Charles the Second, was dying. Tuberculosis was the diagnosis. His alternate choking and sweating was harrowing to watch, as his secret lover, Caleb Knight, the beloved court singer, knew.

"Harry, I beg you. One little bite and you'll be free from your pain."

"And live as a cursed creature for centuries! Caleb… no…" Harry began to cough again.

"I don't feel I'm cursed. I had a pleasant enough time in Ancient Rome, let me tell you. Please, Harry. Let me heal you."

"Well, you can always drain me without my consent, Caleb…" again the composer strained for breath in between racking coughs.

"I will only do this with your consent."

"And I do not."

He sank back, exhausted, closing his eyes. Then:

"I want you to swear on your love for me, Caleb, that you don't wreak vengeance on my Frances for this. It is not her fault that I'm unable to love her as a woman should be loved, and it is not…"

"Harry, she caused this! She locked the doors against you just because you wished to attend a little soiree…"

"Many's the time she warned me, if I went out swilling and came back intoxicated once more, she would…. She was not to know I would catch this vile disease but she knew there was heavy rain outside…"

The sound of coughing filled the air.

"Then she killed you. She'll inherit as your widow when she should be dangling from a noose. At least let me finish her…"

"CALEB!"

The composer's anguish caused him to collapse and lie silent, and Caleb hastened to reassure him:

"I'll not lay a finger on the silly bitch. But I cannot stay in this land, in this century, if I'm not allowed to avenge you. I shall travel."

Harry forced a smile:

"Caleb, you must use that voice. There are ways to perform without the people in the audience knowing what you are. Swear to me that voice won't die."

"Ah, I shall make people well aware of my voice, Harry. I want fame. Unlike some of my poor brothers and sisters in misfortune, who just want peace, I want to be spoken of in drawing-rooms. I wish for people to pay to hear me singing. So I shall…"

He broke off and hastened to Harry's side, and cradled the dying man. Then, tears of blood on his pale cheeks, he kissed Henry Purcell's forehead, raised a little noise in the room to summon the wretched Frances to her unfortunate husband, and disappeared into the night.

"I am having the strangest dreams" Dr Dylan Keogh informed Max the attractive young porter, who just wanted to get back to his crossword while he still had a break. But Dylan continued:

"I'm hearing music in my head, constantly. Purcell. I bloody loathe Purcell!"

"Isn't that a washing power?" asked Max flippantly.

"And what do I see in my dreams? Troikas. Samovars. All things Imperial Russian. And then, as if somebody had changed a channel, a Victorian orgy! Something is very wrong here, Maximilian!"

"It's just Max!" grizzled the young porter.

Then Dr Keogh's pager sounded and he left Max poring over his crossword. But the dreams were to continue for Dylan Keogh.


	3. Chapter 3

Another sleepless night. Correction, another normal night. A night during which he's returned from hunting the prey he needs to survive, to prowl restlessly across the floor of the apartment in the bedroom that he does not need, reflecting on what he has become, and on the mindless excesses of his past. He's committed so many of the seven deadly sins - wrath, lust, idleness. Not gluttony; food to him was an occasional necessity rather than a pleasure. Well, that is one sin that he will not have to pay for in the next life. Food had been merely a routine to him, to keep him nurtured, give him the energy to pursue those other excesses of his. He'd been more interested in joining in the latest drunken ball or party, discreetly catching the attention of a handsome man who'd had the misfortune to catch his eye. Then he'd bragged to his friends that he'd possess him by the end of that week... and he'd never had to hand over the money.

Until he'd found Victor, and subsequently the torments of hell.

As he paces the room, longing for the coming of dawn when he will slip quietly down to the family vault and the close the coffin to shield his now sensitive eyes from the light, and assume some kind of tortured rest till night falls once more, he remembers it all.

Starting from his childhood. He was born Benjamin Dominic Chiltern, son of an indulgent father, Dominic, and an austere Swedish mother, Astrid. Between the Bible lessons, frightening tales and harsh blows of his mother, the hugs and lavish gifts from his father, and the unconditioned devotion of Tobias, Ben became a contradiction. A handsome exterior, the face of a fallen angel, with a slim, though athletic body on the outside, and a self-willed yet susceptible heart on the inside. Then when Astrid died of a sudden chill that turned to pneumonia, he was left to his own devices by his father, who seemed to shrink within himself after losing his wife. Benjamin had made so many wrong choices.

He'd known from sixteen years old that he was more attracted to men than to women. He loved women as friends but could only feel aroused by the presence of a man. To avoid people knowing that he craved 'The love that dare not speak its name' Benjamin Chiltern had eventually become betrothed. He knew he would have to procreate children and that he would loathe the act of procreation but love the children, and had put off the inevitable by finding the wrong kind of friends. The ones who would hug him and call him pretty names but who would stab him in the back.

"Benjie, you have to come", his friend Laurent had urged, waving the elaborate invitation cards in his friend's face, "To turn down an invitation others would kill for..." Laurent pouted, "It's simply rude! This is Count Dubeque's party, Ben! A wonderul Masquerade, where we can dress up as we please without being lectured for it."  
Ben knew that he and Laurent would be at the Masquerade, looking out, not for ladies of the night, but for handsome young men.  
"You don't need me with you", he'd grinned back, "You hunt for your pretty boys well enough on your own!"  
Laurent had looked ashamed, not because of his predilections, but because of his rank.  
"Darling , you know that I'll be refused entrance without you", he wheedled.  
"I promised I'd go with Abigail to dine with her parents", Ben countered.  
Laurent's sneer was evident.  
"So you'll go and mince about over dinner with those two old fools, you and Abigail not even daring to kiss in front of them, and all you'll get from it at the end of the evening will be a chaste little peck from Abgail, there are going to be some of the most gorgeous men at this Masquerade. You owe it to your body to come along. Seek release", Laurent hinted with a lewd wink.  
"I don't have a costume-"  
"Piss to that", giggled Laurent, "The money you have to play with, you can persuade any little dressmaker to make you a pretty costume in a matter of hours, not days. You'll break hearts there, Benjie. Don't be so mean. Accept!"  
He accepted. Little realising the heart that broke would be his own.

He'd sent a message to Abigail's home that evening, expressing his regret that he was "indisposed" and couldn't attend the dinner. He'd also slyly mentioned that he did not want her to catch the chill that he'd unfortunately been inconvenienced by, and more or less ordered her not to visit him. Then there was nothing easier than to be seen to be retiring to his apartments for the evening and nobody but old Tobias saw him slip out on to the balcony of his bedroom and climb out like a badly behaved schoolboy a short while later...

Count Dubeque kissed Laurent's cheek coolly, and Ben's with considerably more warmth.  
"So we have the Sun King", he appraised Laurent's opulent costume with a mere sweep of his eyes, "And the King of Hearts."  
He stroked the appliqued satin heart on the left breast of Ben's shirt, then traced the same pattern followed on the long black jacket over the shirt, and finally caressed the heart-shaped pendant round his neck. It was a simple costume, Ben had gone for a simple theme rather than opulence, and managed to look stunning. The Count looked at the black curls, tied back with the red velvet bow, highwayman-style, and the small domino mask that sadly hid the young man's handsome face somewhat, even though the sensuous lips were visible, and thrown into relief by the mask, had a slight alluring curve to them. He decided to find a few minutes to lead his handsome guest upstairs so he could thank him properly for the invitation. Laurent could merely buy him lunch sometime. Christopher Dubeque wasn't against the less fortunate members of society as such, they just had nothing to offer him and Christopher liked payment for his services.

Ben's eyes moved over the room, appraising the guests, especially the males. He noticed one man who was surrounded by a horde of admirers. He was tall and blond and he wore a plain black suit and tails, but carried a small whip.  
"He's new here, try and get first bite", Laurent whispered. The irony of that casual comment would haunt Laurent for years to come.  
"I believe you are Laurent", the man appraised him. But he quickly turned to his companion.  
"Who is this?" he asked, with a taunting inflection.  
For some reason Ben wanted to play games.  
"The King of Hearts", he smiled coolly.  
The whip lashed out, hitting him gently on the shoulder.  
"I am the King of Pain. We should combine", he said. It was a command, not a statement.  
He made no resistance when the man led him to an empty room and sat on the small couch, forcing Ben to kneel at his feet.  
"Victor", he said simply, and he replied in the same tone:  
"Benjamin."  
The formalities had been observed.  
They drank wine, and flirted together then Victor buried his face against Ben's neck.  
It was only when he felt the sharp teeth and Victor's strong grip, when he felt his blood draining and his heart actually stop beating, then restart, seconds later, that he knew just what he'd done to him.  
"You're a -", he began, stunned. Victor smirked into his face.  
"Correction, my darling. We both are now. Enjoy enternity, Ben."  
He wasn't normally capable of such cruelty but his hands went round Victor's throat, squeezing in his grief and rage.  
He knew how futile his actions were when Victor just laughed in his face and, wrenching himself effortlessly free, glided out.  
He prayed to any God who would answer him for it not to be true, please say he'd just lost consciousness for a moment, please say it was just a sick and cruel joke on Victor's part... then he looked in the mirror.  
But saw just the empty room, not his own reflection.  
He let out a deep moan of anguish, sounding like an animal in pain.  
Somehow he managed to drag himself home to try and salvage what mockery of life he now had.

Dylan Keogh awoke, sweating and even more fractious than usual. Why should he be dreaming of a gay Victorian dandy who'd fallen foul of a vampire? And why was the little bastard so damn pretty?

Dylan hoped for several complicated emergencies that day to take his mind off those stupid dreams.

He wasn't the only one.

Rita Freeman read the letter again. She'd got the job! Good news. Maybe working at the ED in Holby would exhaust her so much that she wouldn't have time to dream. She didn't want to see the beautiful dark-haired woman, Constantia, to experience the sensuous, slow lovemaking between them. Because she knew how the dream would end. Men bursting into a room, a shot, a flash, and then the pain filling her chest.

She began to memorise the details of the letter. Start the next week, 9am on Monday. Report to new clinical lead Constance Beauchamp. Constance? Rita shuddered. No, just coincidence. She needed that job and wouldn't let herself be spooked, no way.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoia – Ancient Egypt 30 BC

The soldiers looked at the bodies of Cleopatra and her faithful serving maids, Charmian and Iras. They were not prepared to see a third servant standing almost insolently by the throne.

"So you decided not to join your mistress and her ladies in death?" the soldier asked, his voice almost showing amusement.

"The bitch never did anything for me!" the girl replied. One of the soldiers drew his sword.

"Take care! Octavian Caesar has already hanged Mardian, the eunuch, for his treachery in defecting to his army. You would make a tasty little morsel for the lions back in Rome, after you've been paraded through the streets in triumph. The people would spit in your face and piss on your feet. Is that what you want? It would be a shame for a little beauty like you. Now my name's Maecaenas and I'd happily take you straight back to my home as a slave girl."

"You're a very handsome man…"

"So we have an arrangement, then, my little jewel?"

"Oh we do."

With that, Zoia, who was not the docile slave she appeared, seemed to fly through the air. She grabbed the gaping Maecaenas by the throat, and drained him, leaving him an empty shell of a man on the ground.

The other soldier swung his sword and beheaded her instantly.

As her head and body rejoined and she began to glide towards him, he started to scream.

Max Walker tossed and turned in his sleep. The face of the loveliest woman he had ever seen had kept flashing in and out of his dreams all night. She was wearing an Ancient Egyptian costume – as far as Max could remember from his history sessions at school, but seemed to have Asian features. He decided that with his luck she'd turn out to be an exotic dancer. Out of his league, out of his price range. But it wouldn't hurt to look up a few nightclubs on the Internet…

"Have you SEEN this list of new people we're having here? Dr Ethan Hardy, consultant. Ben Chiltern, Band 6 nurse. Zoe Hanna, doctor…"

"We are short staffed, Dylan" replied the always reasonable Charlie Fairhead.

"This one looks as if she'll be trouble. Have you SEEN her photograph?"

"Oh, yes" smiled Charlie, appraising the dark hair, intense eyes and sculpted, sensuous lips cheerfully.

"Constance Beauchamp, Clinical Lead. A new bloody line manager as well as all these other people to look after. Huh!"

Charlie laughed to himself as Dylan Keogh stalked out, hands on hips. He had to wonder himself, why this influx of staff? Oh well, if it lightened the workload, it couldn't be bad. His attention turned to the advertisement for the New Theatre Holby:

"For a limited run, direct from London's West End. Phantom of the Opera, starring the phenomenal Caleb Knight."

"I might even manage to go to see that if I get time off", he mused happily.

Somebody was making a booking for the production at that very moment.

"I'd like a front row seat for 'Phantom' for opening night please."

The young girl in the kiosk looked at the slim young man in front of her. She had a feeling he might be handsome but who could tell with those dark glasses and that wide-brimmed hat?

"There's a seat on row A, sir, you're in luck. That will be forty five pounds-"

"Forty five pounds?" was the incredulous reply.

"It's a VIP seat, Sir, with a souvenir programme and a free interval drink."

"Oh very well. I shall be paying by card."

"Thank you Sir, may I ask your name?"

"Hardy. Ethan Hardy."

"I assure you, Sir, you'll have your money's worth."

"Oh, I believe I will."

It would be worth that ridiculous amount of money to see Caleb's face when he saw his estranged brother sitting in the front row. Estranged by a few centuries, true. Much as Ethan despaired of the extravagance and probable lewdness of the production he wanted to see what his brother had made of his singing voice. Then he wanted to tell Caleb that the mysterious power that was calling him and others if his kind together was not a benign one. The whole thing was a trap.


	5. Chapter 5 Cavaliers Roundheads and bats

HOLBY ED PRESENT DAY

The staff of Holby General's Emergency Department gathered together, and there was the usual buzz of anticipation that happened when new staff were introduced.

This time the introduction almost caused the cardiac arrest of at least two current staff members.

The tall, dark-haired woman drew the most attention. Wow, thought Robyn Miller, the cheerful little nurse with the fiery hair, imagine looking like her. Constance Beauchamp seemed to glide into the room, despite wearing the most amazing high heeled shoes Robyn had ever seen.

Behind her was another dark-haired woman, as beautiful in her way as Constance. Her name badge might have said Dr. Zoe Hannah, but Max, whose heart was dancing a fandango inside him, just thought:

"My woman. My dream woman. Oh hell, this is seriously weird but… oh wow."

And when the woman returned his nervous smile, the fandango became a tarantella that threatened to finish Max altogether.

Nurse Ben Chiltern was introduced. He looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth but obviously that mouth might need controlling. He said with a sweet smile:

"You can call me Lofty."

"Er… why?" asked Dylan Keogh whose brain was thumping as hard as Max's heart.

"Because I sometimes sleep in a loft. Like a bat."

Constance quelled him with a sharp look. NOW, she thought, NOW…

"Staff Nurse Rita Freeman. Glad to meet you all. I'll look forward to working with you all."

A brief smile for Constance, but nothing, no sign of recognition.

Constance felt as if a knife had been twisted in her heart.

The dour-looking young man in the equally dour-looking suit introduced himself as Dr Ethan Hardy. Dr Lily Chao thought how attractive he might be if he removed those dark glasses and smiled now and then. Realising her own shortcomings in the smiling department, she couldn't help being amused at herself.

"I was wondering" Charlie said hopefully, "If anybody fancied a night out with a difference. A trip to see Phantom of the Opera with Caleb Knight? Drinks afterwards, of course."

"Ooh, I wouldn't mind. He's a dish and the best singing voice since Alfie Boe!" grinned Robyn.

"Our shifts are technically all night shifts, Charlie. But if we could swap…" Dr Hanna commented.

"Not sure about that" Ben Chiltern said hastily. He added:

"I have a few commitments during the daytime."

"I have several commitments and I'd still love to go to see this. What about yourself, er – Rita, isn't it?"

"Well I love musicals. Count me in, Mr Fairhead."

"Dr Hardy?"

"I'm going already" replied the Unsmiling One. He added:

"He's actually a distant relative of mine so I want to support him, naturally."

"You're a relative of CALEB KNIGHT?" Robyn was almost drooling.

"For my sins, yes."

Alone in her office Constance gave way to the luxury of tears. "Not a smile, not a look… oh Rita, don't you remember me? I need you to remember me, my love…"

The Clinical Lead lay her head on her desk and wept. Coming to this place, with its abundance of fresh blood that could be taken without attacking another human being, had seemed the beginning of an era for herself and the others. She had seen the beautiful lush meadows of England, and had been inspired with her new name. Beauchamp – beautiful field. And now what had she done? She'd have to watch the reborn spirit of the woman she still adored, and that spirit would only ever treat her as a manager, a superior.

The opening night of 'Phantom' was spectacular, such a gaudy spectacle that Ethan Hardy wanted to tear down the lavish backcloths, to call the scantily-clad dancers vile names. And there, in the centre of it all, his wretched stepbrother. The one who'd fixed his fortunes on fighting for that fool Charles the First. He, Ethan, had supported Oliver Cromwell from the beginning. He had relished the times after Charles 1st's execution when they had broken into houses where, despite the laws, Christmas was being celebrated, and confiscating the unnecessary food. And then the disaster. Oliver Cromwell had succumbed to illness, his successors had been clueless, and home came the Merry Monarch Charles the second from exile. Unable to watch his brother's dalliance with the composer Purcell any longer, Ethan had simply moved forward and had found a kind of comfort in the depression of the 1930's. He should never have listened to the call of his kind, that brought him to the present day. Look at his brother now, hiding safely behind a mask and cloak, strutting on a stage. Disgusting. Yet family ties obliged him to warn Caleb of just who was out there hunting for their kind...


	6. Chapter 6

Because he had fed discreetly from the supplies in the blood bank, Ethan was able to stand waiting at the stage door afterwards until Caleb had signed countless autographs and batted his eyelashes at all the silly women. Ethan noticed his drawn look and knew Cal was desparate to feed.

"Come with me", he whispered tersely, "I'll find you food and then we must speak."

"My grim little brother!"

Cal embraced Ethan, who recoiled somewhat.

"You really don't like me, do you?"

"Of course I don't like you, Caleb. We both fought for a different cause. You like spending money like water, and servicing whores. That I could forgive, but what I can never forgive is that you BIT ME!"

"One back for poor Charles the First. I had to bite you, I was starving and your throat was available."

"Charles the First was an arrogant-"

"I too prefer his younger brother."

Ethan snorted, then his tone became urgent.

"Come with me, Caleb, now, before you add another sin to your list."

"A hospital blood bank? You – you're masquerading as a doctor?"

Even as he yearned to sate himself, Caleb had to laugh. Then he ripped open the container and gulped down its contents.

"Ahhh."

"Blood that could have saved some poor injured person-"

"I believe a lot of it goes to waste from what I've read. Well, thank you for taking me out to dinner, Sulky, but I'm sure you didn't just come to me for that."

"He's back, Caleb."

"Back? You mean Meyer the Slayer is on our trail?"

"Don't be so flippant. Anton Meyer has vowed to wipe out our kind and he's been seen heading for the United Kingdom."

"Then we'll fight him."

"Good luck with that. Well don't say you weren't warned."

"What do you think of the food?"

"Food is for nourishment, not for pleasure, Caleb."

"Bah! Miseryguts. I sometimes wonder if young Benjamin didn't have the better way…"

"Still a godforsaken deed, but it did serve its purpose…"

SIR BENJAMIN CHILTERN 1891

He'd tried at first not to take lives. There were so many suicides and murders in this quarter of the town that at his intention was to feed on those. The first and only time he tried that method, feeding from a young girl who'd been pulled from the river and had been callously left lying in the gutter of some street, his belly seemed to be filling with poison, and he had to crawl back to the vault, only just managing to pull the coffin lid over his face before he collapsed. He was fully recovered by the next night but knew that only the blood of the living could nurture him. It was as if this demonic existence was determined to make him evil.

The next night, he was prowling as darkness fell, driven onward by the growing desparation in his guts when he saw a small tabby kitten scampering across his path.  
He loathed himself for the thought that flashed through his mind that an animal wasn't the same as a human being...  
Then to his shock he saw a small girl, obviously a little runaway from her nurse or parents, searching for the kitten.  
"Felix... come here, bad kitty!"  
He would not attack the child or her pet. He remembered himself as a child yet again, how he'd been fascinated by the drawing of the little cubs... but, if the silly little brat didn't get herself out of his way soon, he thought in rage...his hunger was growing...  
His teeth clenched and he realised what to do.  
He made a move at the kitten which froze in its tracks, hissed and spat at him, seeing something evil, then squealed and ran back to the small girl, who picked it up quickly. She looked at Ben curiously, gave a terrified little whimper and ran back to a nearby house, banging frantically on the door:  
"Mama!"  
A woman came out and pulled the little girl back inside. Benjamin, his strength drained, retreated into the shadows and slumped against a wall. His ploy had worked, to scare the kitten into running back to the child. But, Dear Heaven... How many more times would his sin, his curse, allow him to show compassion and restraint?

He walked on, knowing that soon he must feed. And then it seemed providence was finally at hand.  
The man, middle aged and well-fed, was dragging the young girl, no older than fourteen, by the hand, slapping her face to try to make her stop weeping.  
"You've had the meal, bitch, and now you're trying to refuse payment? I took you to the best restaurant in the town, spent good money on champagne for you... well, you can pay me here, now..."  
And he pinned the young girl to the wall, under the shadow of the bridge. She whimpered in dread of what was to come. The man was almost salivating over her, Ben saw to his revulsion.  
With the grace of a big cat, he leapt from the bridge, landing on his feet, unhurt, as if he'd landed in a drift of snow. He grabbed the man, who punched him in the gut, which Ben could scarcely feel. But now the man, under Ben's iron grip, was punching thin air as if it was a scene from a comedy. And Ben took the nourishment he needed, ridding society of a piece of human vermin. He let the man's corpse drop, then snarled at the girl:  
"Run! Go, you silly little bitch! Before I decide I need more..."  
Gulping sobs, spurred on by sheer terror, she fled, her face ashen.  
And Ben realised that maybe this was to be his salvation. To only feed on those who deserved to suffer.

In the next few weeks, he managed to rid the city of several of those who didn't deserve to live. A man who was punching a wailing woman, telling her if she didn't watch her mouth he'd shut it for her the same way he'd done in the past. A youth, well dressed and well fed enough, who was backing an old man into a corner in a dark alley, threatening to slit the old man's gullet if he didn't hand over the ring on his finger. The old man had refused, and the thief had been about to cut off the old man's finger and the ring with it, till Ben had moved swiftly and soundlessly, to finish the thief and snarl at the old man to get himself home while he could.


	7. Chapter 7

Rita was exhausted. The strange nightmares she'd been having were taking their toll on her. She was becoming anxious in case Mrs Beauchamp saw fit to fire her for incompetence, but then if Mrs Beauchamp kept the inept Ben, she herself should have no problems.

"You okay?" asked Big Mac, the security man, kindly on his way out.

"Just tired, Mac."

"Aye, it's been a bit chaotic with the new mob moving in, but things'll settle down soon. Night, Rita."

As soon as Mac had left, she allowed herself the luxury of putting her head on her arms, just for five minutes.

She was in a Troika, cutting through the heavy snow, laughing over at a dark-haired woman. It was Connie Beauchamp.

Then the scene changed to that horrible incident where she was shot, the fear, the pain…

She awoke screaming.

"Hey, are you all right?"

The usually grumpy Dr Keogh was shaking her, gently but forcefully.

"I have to go home to my dog or she'll get fretful, but I heard your banshee act and wanted to check…"

"Dr Keogh. Please fetch me Connie Beauchamp. Then you can go to your dog."

Dylan ran off and arrived back with Connie.

"Off to Dervla!" he said hastily and was gone before anybody could query it.

"Who are you? And why am I having dreams about you?" Rita was sobbing.

Connie held her close, stroked her hair, and as Rita looked up at her with wet eyes, pulled her close and kissed her lips.

Then both women were sobbing in each other's arms.

"Stanzia… now I remember. But why-?"

"Forget questions for now, darling. We have work to do, unfortunately, but when this shift is done I'll take you home and explain everything to you."

She helped the shaking Rita to the rest room and tenderly bathed her face.

Meanwhile, in the Holby Novotel, Anton Meyer lounged on his king sized bed, and studied his notes. A nice little coven of them, living in a hospital with a convenient access to a blood bank.

He'd have every last one of them.

He telephoned the man who was probably the last vampire-hunting Van Helsing in Transylvania.

"Oh I will gladly come and join you, Anton. Shall we say at the end of next week? There are two things in this world I loathe… vampires and Hugh Jackman."

"Hugh _Jackman_?"

"Anton, did you SEE that bloody travesty of a film? Now everybody who meets me starts saying "Ooh you don't look like Hugh Jackman, do you?"

Anton, smirking, replaced the receiver.

Ethan asked for a meeting the next evening and told everybody that Anton Meyer was in the UK, possibly heading to Holby.

"Don't panic. It depends on what he thinks he knows and what he actually knows" replied Connie, somewhat cryptically.

"Well if your little blonde airhead finds out too much and spills the beans…"

"She's perfectly trustworthy, Ethan. She cares for me and would never do anything to cause my death."

Ethan got the implied message and snarled:

"Another abomination!"

Make that three, thought Ben, watching Dylan Keogh's backside moving delightfully as he strutted past the window.

"Oh just blow him a kiss, Benjie, why don't you?"

Ben looked shocked.

"You can TELL?" he asked, sincerely hoping he'd kept his feelings hidden.

"Three abominations in this place. Three!" screamed Ethan.

"Oh go and play with your Minions, Baby!" Ben smirked. Ben was very au fait with current media trends.

If the group had only known, it wasn't just Meyer and the non-Jackman fan that the Holby undead needed to worry about.

Robyn checked herself one more time in the mirror. She looked quite good and if things went well she'd get that gorgeous Caleb Knight's autograph too, maybe a kiss. She was pleasantly surprised to get the afternoon off although she had thrown in an extra shift the next day as a bargain.

Caleb was looking forward to the performance. He'd asked his grumpy little brother to smuggle in something to keep him going until he could next feed. Then, a quick gargle with mouthwash and who could tell?

Marsha Lindon, his co-star, wasn't feeling the same enthusiasm. It should be her name on the main board, not Caleb Knight's. She was as good as him any day! She'd take more rest but then that silly little Dawn Browne would have to go on and Marsha wasn't leaving any loopholes there.

Ugh, now that miserable little brother of Caleb's had arrived. She withdrew, nose in air, into the dressing room.

"Quick, hurry, I'm desparate!"

Ethan sighed.

"I couldn't get you any blood. Big Mac was doing a security check and wouldn't leave the blood bank unguarded."

"HELL, no! Ethan, I'll collapse before the end of the first act! I'll be bleating "Music of the Night!" HELP ME!"

"You'll just have to bite somebody, but not take it all, cover your tracks and erase their memory" said Ethan glibly as if committing near-murder happened every day for his brother.

"Look at this! Caleb Knight, Caleb Knight, Caleb Knight! Not a word about me and I'm playing Christine Daae! Damn reviewers!" screeched from a dressing room close by.

"I know just who", Cal grinned.

Ethan looked disgusted but resigned to the plan.


	8. Chapter 8

Tears were running down Robyn's face by the interval.

"Isn't he wonderful?" she turned to Lily to comment.

"They are all good except for that dreadful woman who is playing Chrstine. She is so conceited and it shows in her performance. But enough discussion, I want ice cream and I'm shy to eat it alone. Can you help Robyn?"

"Oh yes!"

As Robyn and Lily went for their treat, Max smiled shyly at Zoia/Zoe, who had managed to have the evening off work, and joy of joys, was sitting next to him!

"It's good isn't it? I don't usually like posh music but…"

He went red. Now she'd think him an ignoramus! Nice one Walker.

Zoia, however, said:

"I usually like my music a little more raunchy" and then, to his shock:

"We should discuss our tastes in music over a drink. I'm regrettably not free tonight, but tomorrow, if you can make it?"

"Oh joy. Oh joy of joys" thought Max's brain.

"Did you enjoy it, Dylan?" he asked.

Dylan Keogh had been disappointed not to see Ben there, but Ben had for some reason been adamant that he couldn't work a day shift.

"It's a load of sodding old tosh."

Connie, next to Rita, thought how they'd be performing all the songs themselves in the private of Connie's room later… but how was she to explain to the little blonde that she had to leave before the morning? Her phone vibrated. Ethan had let her know that there was access to the blood bank again.

She was just wondering what excuse she could make and hoping Rita's pouts wouldn't persuade her to stay and endanger herself when there was a huge scream backstage.

Fifteen minutes later, an announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, owing to the indisposition of Ms Marsha Lindon, the role of Christine Daae will be played by Dawn Browne in the next act."

Not a groan to be heard from the audience.

Caleb Knight was laying Marsha on a sofa and whispering to her:

"You felt faint. You don't remember what happened to you."

The stage manager was telling everybody how great Caleb Knight had been, catching the fainting Diva in his arms as she'd passed out and calling an ambulance. My goodness, her skin was pale! Bet the woman's on drugs, he thought.

Cal gave one last look at Marsha's flabby neck where the bite had now completely healed, then heard his phone.

Yee hah! Good old baby brother had managed to stock a nice take away meal for them all as soon as they got back to the ED.

"I'm just going for a walk to clear my head", Dylan informed Lily after the show, who said:

"Ask Max to walk with you. It's very late."

"Lily! I wish to be alone. Now I'm not a little boy and my head aches. I'll be just fine. Now go and see if you can distract Robyn from that signed photo of that Knight fool that she's clutching to her bosom, or she's going to walk under a car."

And the independent Dr Keogh strode off.

He had refrained from telling Lily he was off to a cashpoint. He knew it was a mistake at that time of night

But he hadn't enough on him to get Dervla's food from the late night shop and his cardinal rule was that Dervla ate even if he himself had hollow guts.

When he reached the deserted street and the cashpoint he resolved to be as quick as possible.

Too late he felt the jagged broken bottle close to the back of his neck.

"Tell me your PIN number or I'll cut your throat."

"He doesn't want to tell you his PIN number and if you even think about cutting his throat I will rip out your heart and eat it in front of your eyes."

"What the-?"

"BEN?"

The thug and Dylan spoke at the same time. The thug backed off, whimpering. It wasn't enough for Ben, who ran after him at a faster speed than Dylan had seen in his life, then leaped on the thug and drained him, throwing his corpse to one side in contempt. He wiped his mouth almost delicately on a handkerchief and then turned to the stunned doctor.

"So now you know why I won't work day shifts."


	9. Chapter 9 Disturbed Dylan and Mad Max

"You don't exist. You do not exist", Dylan was backing away from Ben in self-denial.

"I'm afraid I do. But I swear you're safe with me."

"A- a vigilante vampire! You – just you keep away from my dog. Never ever go near my dog or I will throw holy water over you and watch that cute little face go up in smoke."

"Not all the stories about us are true. Holy water doesn't have any effect. But I would never harm a dog. I once stood in the shadows, my belly aching with hunger, so that I didn't harm a kitten that was running around. Of course, that was back in 1891…"

"1891. So you were a dandy Victorian Vigilante vampire? And what are you feeding on now apart from thugs?"

Ben smiled which didn't do much for Dylan's already increased pulse rate. He told Dylan about the blood banks.

"Ethan Hardy? That grumpy little blighter is feeding you all from our blood banks?"

"You know yourself a lot of blood is wasted."

"Well aren't you a good little boy finding a use for it?"

"Let me see you safely back home."

Dylan gave an almost angry laugh.

"Funnily enough I do feel safe with you and I took a risk with that cash machine. But Dervla was hungry."

"Your dog?"

"I've told you…"

"I will not go near your dog. Get it?"

"I should report you to Connie Beauchamp."

"I'm afraid she's one of us too."

Dylan sighed heavily.

"Benjamin, once I'm safely in my houseboat I'm going to have a very stiff drink. Or two strong painkillers. And I'm going to go to sleep and pray that this has all been a hideous dream."

The next morning Dylan Keogh arrived at work with a scowl fixed almost permanently on his face. He went through the motions of working until the beginning of the evening shift when Dr Hanna went to him and told him to take time out to sit in the breakout area while she went to find him something to help.

"And then you're going home to that dog of yours."

Ben wisely kept as far away from Dr Keogh as he could that evening.

As promised, Dr Hanna went down to the pharmacy section and unfortunately Max decided to sneak down to watch her. He knew it was stalking and that he deserved a punch in the mouth for it. What he got was a lot worse.

He arrived a little before Zoe, to find Jeannie, the dour middle aged pharmacist, being threatened by a man with a shotgun.

"Give me what f****ing drugs you have, bitch. I just want this pain to stop."

He turned the gun on Max.

"Down on the floor, pretty boy. You've seen nothing, right?"

Once more he aimed the gun at the shivering Jeannie:

"Hand them over, you silly old cow, or I WILL use this."

"You really don't want to do that, Sir." Zoe's voice.

The gun was aimed at her, and the man fired. Max, putting heart before common sense, had thrown himself in front of her and now lay dying with a deep wound in his abdomen. Jeannie had mercifully fainted.

"Now give me…"

The man got no further. Zoe had snapped his neck hard. Ignoring him she knelt down by Max, who was trying to speak.

"Ssh… oh my God, you love me don't you? This won't hurt too much and it's better than dying…." She told him.

Then she bit him, judging the right moment.

"Right, darling, don't waste time querying, drink this…"

She had slashed her wrist and was offering it to him. She could see he was almost too weak to feed but held him so that he could take her life-giving blood.

Seconds later he looked up at her in a mixture of resentment and wry amusement.

"My dream girl and she just happens to be a vampire… hey am I one now?"

"I'm afraid so. Oh… Jeannie."

She knelt by Jeannie, whispering: "This never happened" in her ear.

"Go into my office and wait for me there" she told the stunned Max.

Looking totally nonplussed, the porter did as he was told.

"What the hell? I've never fainted on duty before." Jeannie had recovered.

"I'll check you over. Hmm… overwork maybe Jeannie? I'd put in for some annual leave."

Max and Zoe sat on the roof, mulling over recent events.

"So I have a girlfriend just like that. And she's a vampire. And she can erase minds."

"We both can now, darling."

"Can you put things into people's minds too?"

"If it's a pay rise you want, you're out of luck, Max. They come from Connie and…"

"Shit, a vampire me, a vampire girlfriend and a vampire clinical lead."

"You shouldn't throw yourself in front of men with shotguns."

"Ha ha. I suppose we'd better go in."

Zoe, with an impish expression, looked round. Nobody."

"Come on, one giant leap. Don't forget you can fly now."

They glided down to the ground with Max giggling like a naughty schoolboy.


	10. Chapter 10

"Caleb Knight saved my life", gushed Marsha to the press, "I passed out for no reason and suddenly there he was stroking my neck and telling me it was all going to be fine. And he's such a wonderful Phantom too…"

Cal read the subsequent interview and laughed himself hoarse in his flat with the blinds all drawn and the lights blazing. If only the silly bitch knew!

A banging at the door that could only mean one person.

He strode to the door and confronted a glowering Ethan.

"So you not only cover up your crime and get away Scot free but you suddenly become even more of a media darling? You disgust me."

"Ooh and when you were back in the 1930's and you were Al Capone's right hand man, killing people all over the place…"

Ethan looked at him witheringly.

"I was in England during the 1930's, cretin, and it was dole queues and austerity, not killing sprees."

"Pity. That little barista would make a sweet little flapper. You ought to get closer to her."

"I don't want to be closer to her. I don't want to be close to any women except our kind. Human women are a liability. You see that pulse in their little necks and…"

"You don't have to kill them altogether Ethan."

"It's still evil. And you had to make me part of it. You had to bite me."

Sick of his brother's nagging, Cal got him by the scruff of the neck and put him outside.

Five minutes later Ethan, having walked through the wall, stood glaring by the fireplace.

"And you should be sleeping now, not gobbling up all that electricity. Have you no regard for the planet?"

"None whatsoever" replied Cal, turning on the television.

"I'll have to move out of the flat. I might bite poor little Robyn."

Max was thinking of pitfalls now the euphoria of being undead and in love had worn off.

"I'll get us a lovely flat. Two en suite bedrooms…"

"I can't afford anything like that and I won't let you pay."

"You don't have to, my darling. I'll simply – umm – suggest to the Estate Agent that we've already paid."

"And the deeds?"

"With my memory and technological skills I can forge the deeds."

"You're immoral, woman!"

"Comes with being a vampire, my love. And the fact that I had to grovel and scrape to that bitch Cleopatra for so many years. I learned to be hard."

"Zoe? THE Cleopatra?"

"Yes Max. I hope you're not going to start drooling. If truth be known she wasn't that gorgeous."

"Did she really… um… put an asp down her….?"

"It was her wrist", Zoe replied witheringly, "Shakespeare decided to spice up her death scene a bit."

"I shan't have any more fantasies of being an asp then. Dirty bugger, Shakespeare, wasn't he?"

"Like most men. Like you."

Max smirked, then a few moments later:

"What excuse can I make to Robyn?"

"You're moving in with your girlfriend" Zoe shrugged.

"So we're going public?"

"About everything but the immortality."

Dear Diary:

It's so strange how I just accept that I'm reincarnated from a doomed Russian Princess and that the woman I love's a vampire. My world's turned insane, but I'm so deeply in love that I don't know how to get out of this, and to be honest, why would I want to? But if there are vampires there must be vampire killers too. I worry so much for her. And on a more selfish note, Diary, would they kill me too? Oh well. No turning back now. She's actually quite unnerving as a clinical lead, and it's more than anybody's job's worth to disturb her from when she first comes in to work in her leathers and dark glasses mid-morning to when she leaves before dawn. Too long hours for any normal human being. The day staff just believe she's driven. But when she's finally home and we get together…. Oh we make such sweet music!

Dyan Keogh pulled on his jacket, looking forward to leaving the problems of the ED to the night shift and going home and having some doggie cuddles. He was walking through the grounds when he saw a desolate figure sitting on a bench, his head in his hands, sobbing as if his heart would break.

"Benjamin?"


	11. Chapter 11

This is shorter than my previous chapters as I have been having trouble with my One Drive and it will no longer store documents straight from Microsoft Word so I needed to test whether this new format worked for me. It seemed to for now. Hopefully when I've figured out the problem I'll be able to use my trusted old format.

Dylan sat down next to the griefstricken man.

"Ben, what is this?"

He expected a blotched face with a runny nose to be turned towards him, but there wasn't a mark on Ben's pale face. Yet Dylan could see from his eyes that he had been weeping, that he was in torment.

"I wish I could die. And please don't tell me you save hundreds of people from death every day, that's for humans who haven't had a taste of life yet. I've lived a long time Dylan and I just want the peace of death; eternal sleep. But because of what I am, how can I expect that?"

"I hope you're referring to what you are as being a vampire and not being gay!"

"Yes, the vampire part. I see children, Dylan, they come in and out of this hospital and we cure them. I see their parents hugging them in relief when they know their little ones will survive. And I ache. Oh I know I'm supposed to have no heart, but… something in me hurts. I'll never be able to father a child."

"Adoption?"

Ben laughed drily.

"Ben the daddy Vampire? What kind of legacy is that for a child? This is why I chose to be a nurse, to heal the children I could never have, to give back life for the ones that I've taken. Even though I only took the lives of scum."

"Well there you go then, stupid bugger. Oh, come here."

Dylan hugged Ben close, stroking his dark curls. Ben's dry sobs subsided. He looked up and his eyes locked with Dylan's. And they knew.

"Ben… tell me something."

"Anything!"

"How is it that your breath never stinks, despite the visits to our blood banks?"

"A little human device called toothpaste. And mouthwash. And those wonderful tiny little sugar free mints that dissolve in the mouth."

The triviality of the question compared to what Ben expected to be asked, suddenly started the nurse laughing hysterically. Again, when he looked up, his eyes were dry.

"You know, if I can get Dervla in Doggy Day care overnight, and you can get time off, would you like to come round after you've – er – fed?"

"Ooh Dylan Keogh. And there's me thinking you might bring at least one container from the bank for me!"

"I'd rather you visited afterwards" Dylan couldn't help but be truthful. Ben just laughed.

"Very honest. Are you off home to your dog now?"

"I suppose she'll wait a while longer without eating all my furniture."

"Let me show you where I sleep."

Ben reckoned if that didn't spook Dylan out of dating him, nothing would.

"Go on then."

"I'm afraid I have to hold on to you. Now don't panic. I have a strong grip."

Dylan screamed like a drunk at a filthy joke as they rose into the air.

"Dylan you are the last person I would let fall. Please keep calm."

After five minutes Dylan began to enjoy himself. Finally Ben took him to an old castle and to a crypt:

"Here lies Sir Benjamin Chiltern 1858-1891."

He showed Dylan the empty coffin.

"In the daytime I'm in there, eyes closed, hands folded, sleeping away."

"You're a kinky bugger, Ben."

But Dylan was smiling.

(


	12. Chapter 12

A/N I'm very embarrassed, there was a glaring timeline error in the original chapter 12 so here's the revised version:

Dear Diary

Well I think our Mr Grumpy has met his match. Lily froze him out today. She's beautiful (not that I'd look at anybody but Connie) but so aloof. Which is why I think Ethan's taken a shine to her. He gave half a smile just before the start of his shift. Robyn is being a pain in the ass about Caleb Knight. She has his photo on the social events board in reception. Noel drew a beard and moustache on it and she went bananas. Now she wants to go to the show again but can't get a ticket. She's been almost as grizzly as Ethan and Lily.

Ethan Hardy came in on night shift just as Robyn Miller was leaving, with Ben Chiltern coming in to replace her.

"Good evening, Ben. Good night, Robyn. You don't look happy."

Robyn, lip quivering, pointed to the notice board.

"I must say it improves him."

Robyn gaped a little; Ethan Hardy making a joke? But this wasn't funny.

"Look what he's done!" she wailed.

"He's jealous" replied Ben.

"Get another one" said Lily Chao drily.

Robyn didn't want to be rude, but said as calmly as she could:

"But Dr Chao, you have to get one from the stage door and the show's all booked up. Caleb Knight's so popular, you see."

"I'll get you one" said Ethan Hardy, without a smile.

Robyn's smile nearly split her face in half.

"Can you really?"

"I know Caleb - he's very private away from the stage door but there's a favour I can call in from him. Now please go home while it's not too dark, and stop fretting."

Robyn grinned and hurried off.

"You spoil that girl, Doctor Hardy. I must say Caleb Knight doesn't seem the type of person you'd want for a friend."

"He has his moments" replied Ethan and then a call over the tannoy sent them both hurrying to Resus.

Max and Zoe were in undead heaven, if such a thing existed, about the new flat. The two ensuite bedrooms were wasted on the frisky pair, who even showered together, but they agreed they would be able to have friends over. Their kind of friends, of course, the temptation to bite the living was always a problem, although the blood banks helped overcome this.

Connie had already had words with Zoe about losing Max to the night shift.

"Zoe, did you turn Max?"

"Well… yes. You don't know about this, but a lunatic was holding a gun on Jeannie. He turned the gun on me, Max threw himself in front of me and received a fatal abdominal wound. What was I to do, let him die?"

She expected her line manager to be sharp with her, but Connie was weeping silently.

"I didn't have time for that with Rita; her heart was already pierced."

"Come here, sweetheart" Zoe hugged her, "At least your Rita was born again. It's very rare that happens, Connie. She's a very lucky lady to have you."

Connie had been tense all evening but the tension had been broken by a drunk who was refusing treatment. Connie told him sharply to get himself into a cubicle and to stop being stupid.

"Bite me", he'd replied.

"Oh don't tempt me!" Connie had muttered, then had handed the drunk over to Ben while she'd fled to the ladies to laugh.

Ben looked round the houseboat shyly.

"This is lovely."

"Don't patronise me, Chiltern, you have a whole castle to live in" replied Dylan, only half-joking.

"A cold castle. This feels warm. This feels like life. And you have a dog."

"I have. If anything is going to develop between us, Benjamin, what am I going to do?"

"You know I'd never hurt your dog."

"But she'd take one sniff at you and howl all night."

"She might like me" Ben said hopefully.

Dylan sipped from his can of beer. He was loosening up nicely.

"We'll cross that bridge when we're under it" he said.

"And tonight while there is no dog resident here?"

"We shouldn't waste a single moment. Come here."

Later on, Dylan lay with his head on Ben's chest. It spooked him to think that he couldn't feel a heartbeat at all, but Ben was warm and the gentle rocking of the boat soon lulled him to sleep.

In the early hours Ben kissed Dylan's cheek softly and went back to grieve in his cold castle.


	13. Chapter 13

"Fundraising?" Ethan looked incredulous at Robyn's latest suggestion.

"If you could get Caleb Knight to do a concert here for charity, think of the money we could raise for the hospital."

"Robyn, it doesn't work like that. I know Caleb, yes, but he doesn't do everything I tell him!"

Robyn looked crushed but just said:

"Sorry Doctor Hardy. Stupid idea."

If Robyn had kicked off and thrown a tantrum Ethan wouldn't have given the charity a second thought. Her quiet acceptance won him over.

"I'll see what I can do. There's a school hall we might be able to use if I can speak to the Headmaster. Leave it with me."

"You're lovely Dr Hardy."

Robyn went to kiss Ethan who backed away and said hastily:

"Sorry Robyn, skin allergy. That's why I wear the big hat and coat."

"Aw, that's so sad. Ooh, I'm excited now!"

Ethan left Robyn to her 'Oohing and aahing' and went to speak to Caleb.

"Ethan! Get out of my dressing room. I'm about to go onstage in five minutes and drop a chandelier on Paris Opera House!"

"I just want you to listen for five minutes. I'm trying to atone for my meanness, Caleb. Listen…"

A few seconds later Caleb was smiling.

"Sounds so simple. You and I brainwash a Headmaster into letting us have his school hall for the evening, I go and belt out all my favourite songs, and the hospital gets its much-needed cash, JUST LIKE DISNEY. And it's my grumpy skinflint of a brother who's making the suggestion. Now please let me go and destroy the Paris Opera House and we'll talk later."

The next evening Ethan was able to tell Robyn it was on for the fundraising concert but had to warn her as subtly as he could about her crush:

"Robyn, he's – he's not perfect, you know. He has a bad temper and sometimes he's a law unto himself. You're a nice kind person and I just don't want you getting hurt.

Lily Chao, pretending she wasn't listening, decided she was becoming quite fond of Ethan Hardy. Maybe there were reasons for his unhappy attitude.

Meyer and Van Helsing laughed smugly on seeing the advertisement in the paper as they sat in The Flying Scone, their favourite Holby tea shop.

"In two months' time. Can you afford your hotel for another two months, Abraham? I think we shall have more success if we defer our visit."

Van Helsing groaned.

"Not really, Anton. I was thinking more of coming to stay with you."

Anton's heart sank but he nodded. It would be worth Van Helsing's greed and laziness to get rid of the whole evil tribe…

"All of them together in one school hall. Madam Beauchamp, Chiltern, Zoia, Knight and his sullen little sibling. We must sharpen our stakes and bide our time."

"I had a wonderful time the other night, Dylan" Ben said hopefully.

"You can't come again. My dog…"

"I wish you'd just give me the chance with her. I actually adopted a dog back then, you know."

"You WHAT?"

"A tired old mongrel was being kicked to death by a gang of thugs-"

"Bastards!"

"There wasn't much left of them after I'd intervened. The dog needed treatment, I kept my face hidden, took him to a vet's and had him patched up. After that he followed me everywhere and I bought him food and water."

"What was his name?"

Ben smiled as he reminisced.

"I called him Hollow Guts. He was greedy but it was the kind of greed that happens after being half-starved."

"And he wasn't afraid of you?"

"Oh he was terrified. At first. Then he followed me around till he died of old age, poor thing."

"I might try you with Dervla after all."

Dylan had wisely kept Dervla on her lead as he brought her towards Ben, who moved quietly towards her, hoping she would let him stroke her.

Dervla whined, howled, backed away.

Dylan felt sorry for Ben when he saw his stricken face but said firmly:

"It can't work, Ben. You can't get rid of what you are and I can't get rid of my dog."

Ben sighed.

"And we can't have any moments at work because we can't work the same shift. You have to get home to her. Now I'm leaving, because I'm making the poor creature shake, look."

He turned on his heel, and seemed to vanish into the night.

Dylan brooded all night. He knew that Ben was devastated, that it was one more reason for his eternal torment.

There was only one thing he could do for the man he loved, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

As soon as day dawned, Dylan made his move. Ben had told him how to get into the castle and now Dylan was cautiously making his way along. He prayed the police wouldn't come and question him. A man with a nice sharpened stake and a hammer would look highly suspicious and he was likely to undergo the embarrassment of ending up in the psychiatric ward at Holby. He wanted to sit down and weep but knew he had to do this. Give poor Ben the peace he deserved.

His courage was almost evaporated when he approached the open coffin- "I'd hate to feel shut in when I awaken at night", Ben had told him – and saw Ben sleeping like an innocent child, hands folded just beneath his heart. Good, thought Dylan, I need the access. Thanking his medical training for his knowledge of anatomy, he positioned the stake over Ben's heart and drove it down with the hammer. Blood seeped over Ben's white shirt; his body gave one small spasm and he was still. Dylan kissed the cold forehead, and whispered:

"Find peace, Ben."

Then he fled, running blindly, until he reached home. He vomited helplessly just before he entered the houseboat, and Dervla looked at him with huge reproachful eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day Dylan phoned in sick which was hardly surprising as he had lain awake all night, dry-eyed yet almost comatose with grief and remorse.

"Hello Dr Keogh" came Robyn's cheerful voice, "You sound in a bad way."

"Yes. I'll not be coming into work today, Robyn. Can you let Mrs Beauchamp know when she arrives?"

"Of course. Get well soon Dr Keogh."

"Thank you."

The run-of-the mill conversation was almost too much to bear but at least he'd got the phone call over with.

Now he could continue to grieve.

It had been a long shift for Robyn; every time she had tried to chat to somebody – anybody – about Caleb Knight's upcoming charity concert, either Charlie Fairhead or Rita Freeman had interrupted her and given her another job. She couldn't wait to get home, put her feet up and read through her press clippings and reviews about Caleb. Robyn was fast becoming a fangirl.

Dylan, his head pounding, paced the small area of space in the houseboat. Then he realised somebody was tapping on the window. Oh no. Some well-meaning individual was checking on him. He wanted to shout "Screw off!" and turn his face to the wall, but the tapping was insistent.

"Dylan! I know you're in there. Is Dervla awake?"

There were only two occasions in his life when Dylan Keogh had come close to wetting himself. The first was at school when he'd had to pretend to be a soldier and march round the stage with the other boys in full view of an audience of teachers and parents. This was the second.

"Ben? Oh God, you're haunting me aren't you?"

"The undead don't haunt, Dylan. Please open the door."

Shaking but determined to find out how bad the situation was, Dylan opened the door. Ben, looking no different from when they had spoken the previous day, stood there, a half-smile on his face.

"We need to talk."

"Understatement of the year, Benjamin" replied Dylan, shaking a little.

"You put a stake through my heart."

"I wanted to set you free. Have you come to kill me?"

"What for, caring enough to try and bring me peace? My poor Dylan, a stake through the heart doesn't kill us."

"Well it did when I read 'Dracula'"

"Mythology! You'd have been better off reading 'Interview with the Vampire, Dylan, that's closer to the truth."

"So I haven't helped you at all?"

"You have. Nobody has ever loved me so much that they wanted to free me, no matter what the consequences to themselves might have been. Whatever happens to me now, Dylan, I'll always have that. And we'll find ways to be together, you and I."

The next moment they were in each others' arms and learning to explore each other all over again, until a soft whining from Dervla, who was awake and very hungry, brought them back to earth.

It seemed to be a night for loving. Zoe and Max, now working the same shift, were enjoying a few stolen moments in the store cupboard when Zoe said casually:

"Things have been happening to me lately, Max."

"Tell me about it!" the amorous young porter murmured into her hair. She reluctantly disentangled and said baldly:

"I'm pregnant, Max."

She looked at him uneasily but he was all but turning cartwheels round the room.

"Um… will it be just the same as any other woman or…."

"It shouldn't be so bad, and at least I can't die in childbirth."

They both collapsed laughing. Then they became deadly serious. There was a lot to plan.

The weeks moved on and the day of the fundraising concert dawned. Ethan gave his brother a list of things to do, or not to do.

"I'll be bringing supplies. If you get the urge to bite anybody, finish your song and then take a break. Come and find me."

"Don't encourage that little Robyn. She's a decent little nurse and a good human being. The less she falls for you, the less of a wrench it'll be when you're finally outed."

"Nice choice of words."

"I mean as a vampire."

"You've reminded me, I'm looking forward to the tribute to Harry. I couldn't trust Marcia with his music but I've got a nice little soprano in to perform one of his arias. She's at music college. Name of Cassandra."

For some reason Ethan didn't trust that name. He couldn't say why but he had a foreboding.

"Well" he said drily, "Let's hope you do Henry Purcell credit although I'm sure your antics are making him turn in his grave already."

"Robyn, will you concentrate?"

"Sorry Rita. But…"

"I know, tonight's going to be magic and you can't wait. But these are patients we're dealing with, sweetheart."

"Have you ever been in love, Rita?"

The blonde smiled.

"Only once… and I'll always be faithful to her. Now come on! Cubicle 5 before I risk world war three by keeping you here tonight…"

But Robyn had fled to cubicle 5.

Van Helsing stuffed himself with everything he could find at Meyer's house, and then the pair were ready. They wielded their stakes and hammers with pride, then put them away into their Gladstone bags.

Dylan Keogh could have told them about that…

(


	15. Chapter 15

Cassandra sidled up to Meyer.

"And you'll keep your promise? You'll let me go afterwards? After all I'm giving you a LOT of vampires in return for little old me."

"Just do your job, young lady. Get Caleb Knight in a vulnerable position and we'll spare you."

Cassandra purred.

"I'll go and get ready then. Do excuse me."

She disappeared into what passed for her dressing room, turning up her nose in disgust.

Cassandra had been a vestal virgin in Ancient Roman days. When she'd been found breaking her vows by being caught in the act with a muscular gladiator, her sentence had been to be walled up alive. She'd enjoyed her play-acting, sobbing, begging for mercy to no avail, and then as the two guards were ready to close the door on her and seal the room from outside, she'd struck. Drained them both and fled to Crete for a while, then Tudor England, providing some excitement for Henry the Eighth, until she'd been insolent to him. His sly courtiers had recommending burning at the stake. That was one thing she didn't want to risk, and so she had vanished from her cell in the night, leaving the courtiers very much out of favour. Then she'd found Holby and bided her time. She'd sneaked supplies from the blood bank without the tiresome process of having to masquerade as a nurse, and had found herself a nice empty flat to hide in while she gathered information on her fellow creatures. Reinventing herself as a music student, she'd insinuated herself into Caleb Knight's life with the final result that she was to perform with him that night. And after the performance she would hand Caleb and the rest of the tribe over to the slayers. Cassandra knew their methods were useless but she decided that if she made it look as if she'd saved the other vampires from their clumsy attempts to kill them, she'd earn their gratitude. And get up close and personal with that grumpy but so cute Ethan Hardy. Then she could call in real evil from the past..

Robyn was desolate. She'd just been ready to leave for the fundraising event when an old man with a stomach complaint had thrown up on her lovely new dress. Connie Beauchamp, seeing her misery, hurried round to the late night shopping centre and came back with an even nicer outfit.

"Oh Mrs Beauchamp it must cost a fortune-"

"Marks and Spencer, Robyn. Now go and change, and then hurry off to your concert. You can pay me back each month from your salary, that way you'll not notice the expense so much."

Robyn wanted to kiss Mrs Beauchamp but didn't know if Mrs B would mind that kind of thing, so she just thanked the amused clinical lead several times and ran off to change. She caught a taxi as soon as she left the building and just to show good things come in threes, was greeted at the door by Caleb Knight himself.

"I understand you were the one who thought of this evening" he said, smiling. She nodded, too overcome to speak.

"I'll make sure you're thanked on stage tonight. Now I have to go and get ready" Caleb told her, but left a kiss on her cheek. Robyn all but floated to her seat while Caleb put up his feet on the desk that served as a dressing table and swigged the welcome blood bank supply that Ethan had brought for him.

Just before the show began, Connie, Rita, Ben, Dylan, Max, Zoe, Ethan and Henrik Hanssen took their places in the front row with Robyn.

As the lights went down, Meyer and Van Helsing took their places at the back, their bag of stakes and hammers disguised in a Minions sports bag.

Ben badly wanted to hold hands with Dylan but was grateful that Dervla had gone to the doggie equivalent of Travelodge for the night. They would have a glorious evening to themselves.

Zax had no such restrictions and were holding hands hard.

Connie gave Rita a 'wait till you see what I've got for you later' smile and the curtain rose, and out came Caleb Knight.

He made a sincere-sounding opening speech during which Ethan snorted under his breath, and the show got under way with 'Music of the Night', which seemed appropriate.

"And now, my tribute to a composer who would have been more famous than Handel or Mozart if he'd lived longer – the wonderful Henry Purcell."

He sang a stirring aria and then the school choir sang 'Nymphs and Shepherds Come Away".

"Now I'd like you to meet a beautiful young lady, who sings like an angel. To sing 'I Intend From Love's Sickness To Fly in Vain', please welcome Ms Cassandra Nicolaides."

Ethan's blood ran cold. Cassandra walked on stage and there was a murmur of approval.

"Who are you, you bitch and why don't I like you?" , thought Ethan.

The signal was for the second repetition of the words 'For I am myself my own fever and pain'. Cassandra reached this, clear as a bell.

"NOW" whispered Meyer to Van Helsing, grabbing the sports bag.

"NOW" whispered Connie to her allies adding quietly:

"Rita, you stay in your seat, darling, okay?"

Then both vampires and slayers rushed the stage.

(


	16. Chapter 16

Meyer lunged at Connie.

"She's their leader, kill her first."

"You hold her down then and I'll stake her." Meyer told his colleague, who blanched at the idea of tackling the group's leader. So he should have been. Connie kicked him in the face, her heels making an ugly mark at each side.

Meyer's grip on Connie was broken by Cal, who snatched the stake from him and snapped it in half. He then drove it into Meyer's neck and, disregarding his public image, drained him to a husk.

Robyn wept in confusion and fear. Was her beloved idol a – a vampire?

Max and Zoe now had Van Helsing between them.

"After you, darling" said Max politely.

"No, you."

"One of you bite him!" bawled Ethan.

Zoe and Max drained him together and threw him into the wings.

"And for the record, punk, Hugh Jackman's f***ing beautiful!" bawled Zoe.

"Oh is he now?" Max pouted.

"Hugh Jackman? Is he here?" asked a middle-aged woman in the audience.

"No, darling, a huge axeman is on the loose so we're evacuating the concert" Connie told her, helping her outside.

"Oh what's happening?" sobbed an old lady.

Ben went over to her and gently escorted her outside.

"Wait there, sweetheart. We'll see you get home."

He seemed to fly back inside. The old lady fainted. The middle aged woman vowed to give up the Mojitos.

Max, his paternal instincts to the fore, was cuddling a girl of about eleven who was weeping.

"I – I sneaked out to watch Caleb because I love him. My mum's going to skin me alive."

"No she's not. Trust your Uncle Max."

The entire audience was in chaos and Cassandra chose this moment to make her escape. She made the fatal mistake of taking time to commit an act of spite. Grabbing the pale and disorientated Rita, she drained her and threw her across a seat.

"Zoe! Give me your lighter."

Connie grabbed Zoe's arm and shook her in rage when Zoe didn't respond at first.

"ZOE! We all know you smoke on the sly. Lighter! NOW!"

Zoe handed it over. Connie grabbed Cassandra by the hair and set it alight. Not wanting the flames to reach the audience, she carried the wailing Cassandra outside and threw her against a wall. The old lady, who had just come round, fainted again.

Cassandra, going up like a bonfire, managed to shriek out:

"You'll be sorry. HE's coming. Try stopping him!"

They were her last words before her screams and yelps of agony took over as she danced in torment, and finally crumbled to a pile of ash.

"Is she really gone?" asked Cal.

"She might be able to get back but not in that body."

"Good", growled Ethan, "I did not like that woman."

Connie wanted to make Rita her priority but knew she had a duty to the audience and her human colleagues to erase tonight's horror from their minds.

Dylan sat inside, hands on hips, trying not to show relief that his friends were all fine.

Max had gone over to the little girl again.

"Come on runaway, let's get you home before Mum knows you've gone."

He lifted her, and touching her forehead, murmured:

"You had a wonderful time and Caleb Knight gave you a kiss afterwards, okay?"

Ben was taking care of his old lady.

"Come on, gorgeous. This way."

As they flew towards her home, he intoned:

"You had a good time but the show ended earlier than you'd expected. You went to the last of the Bingo, and you won…" he stopped at a deserted cashpoint and used his knowledge to find a pin number, extract a wad of notes, which he placed in the old lady's bag. Ben saw no harm in sneaking cash from the account of an obnoxious local politician.

Cal himself was 'doing' Robyn.

"You got a standing ovation for organising the concert and I am so proud of you."

"Why do you always look so happy when you're lying?" growled Ethan.

At last, with the audience safely brainwashed, evacuated and on their buses home, Connie had to face the horror of what had happened to Rita.

The little blonde was standing in the school hall, looking shell-shocked.

Connie ran to her.

"Oh Rita, sweetheart, I am so sorry."

"I'm not. Now I don't have to worry about what happens to you after I die. Together for eternity, Connie! Woo hoo!"

"The strangest things make you happy, Freeman!"

"Will I like blood, though? That's the only thing worrying me."

"Like it? Girl, you'll learn to love it."

"That bitch ruined my Purcell tribute. I'm glad she's toast", Cal fumed.

"What did she mean about HIM coming? Did she mean the devil?" whispered Ethan.

Connie shook her head.

"No but almost as bad. Somebody from another time has got through the time zone when one of you moved forward in history. And from the sound of it it isn't Santa Claus."

Charlie Fairhead came over to her.

"That concert seemed to whip by, don't you think?"

"My concerts always do" chipped in Cal with a self satisfied smirk.

"So the hospital didn't make a penny?" Dylan asked afterwards as he cuddled with Ben on the houseboat.

"Not officially. But Holby General is going to receive a nice fat donation from a mean little git that calls himself an MP."

"You filthy little bandit, Chiltern" whispered Dylan, stroking Ben gently.

But at the back of Ben's mind, and the minds of all the other Holby undead, they knew the threat of some evil spirit coming was to be taken very seriously.

(


	17. Chapter 17

A/N Sorry about the incomplete and incorrect chapter that was posted last night. I'd had trouble with my Microsoft and wasn't thinking straight. So here's the hopefully improved chapter:

Ethan had intended to give Lily a lecture about promising to come to the concert and then not turning up, when he came into work but he was informed that she was off with a virus.  
Finding out her address from the indiscreet Louise, and knowing Lily lived alone, he went to the all night shop for brandy, herbal tea bags, grapes and a chunky girlie magazine, he waited till his break and then transported himself over to her flat in seconds.  
He knocked, gently at first, then a little louder.  
Lily, her face pale as lint, and swathed in a fluffy bathrobe, came to the door.  
"Doctor Hardy?"  
"I'm sure you can call me Ethan by now. I heard you had a virus so I came to see you."  
"Yes, I can tell you're afraid to catch something" she replied drily, looking at the scarf over his lower face.  
"It's not because of that, it's because of my own skin allergy. Anyway, look. Marie Claire, brandy to warm you up and some nice grapes."  
"Louise had no right to give my address."  
"I couldn't exactly reprimand her for that, could I? May I come in?"  
Lily suddenly realised Ethan Hardy was one of the rare people she liked and trusted.  
"Come in. I will have to keep my distance, I'm not well at all. I'm sweating one minute, freezing the next."  
He followed her inside, his eyes going to where a chubby grey cat reclined on the sofa. Having visited the blood bank earlier, he knew the cat was safe from him, but it still hissed, spat and ran away into the next room.  
"Oh, Figaro, so rude", Lily said.  
Ethan proved how tactless he could be at times.  
"Big cat, isn't he? Maybe you should change his name to Pigaro."  
"He has thick fur! And if you're going to be nasty about him you can go back to work."  
"He's a nice cat! I'm sorry. Where's your kettle? I'll make you a lemon and ginger tea."  
"Aren't you afraid you'll get this, Ethan? It's not very nice."  
"I'm lucky, I don't – er – pick up viruses easily."  
He brought the hot drink to her and then said regretfully:  
"I need to go back to work now, my break's over. You snuggle up with that and read your magazine. Can I look in on you tomorrow?"  
She nodded.  
"Goodnight, Ethan."  
"Night."  
He left the flat and, as nobody was around, decided to use a bit of levitation and flight to speed things. Little did he know Lily had been watching him through the window.  
Lily, instead of settling down with her drink, paced the room. She'd seen Ethan Hardy flying. Literally flying across town. She tried to laugh it off, to think it was a by-product of her virus, but no, he had definitely risen in the air. More examples of his eccentricity came into her mind. How he never ate or drank while at work. How he never stayed beyond dawn. The way he preferred to keep his face hidden. And tonight, Figaro had fled from him.  
What did that make him? And was he being kind to her so that he could pounce on her one night and make her as undead as himself?  
Poor Lily couldn't concentrate on the glossy pages of her Marie Claire and just sat staring into space until she fell asleep in the chair and awoke with cramped limbs.

Zoe and Max's alarm woke them for their late shift.  
"I can't wait to get to that blood bank" Max said, stealing one more kiss and cuddle.  
"What about me? I'm eating for two now!"  
"Zoe… do you think we ought to bring a vampire child into this world?"  
She glared at him.  
"What are you suggesting?"  
"Nothing…"  
"Because no way would I get rid of this baby. It's my child, Max, and I will love him or her no matter what."  
"I didn't mean get rid of the poor little thing! I meant maybe have it adopted so it gets the chance of human parents!"  
Zoe got washed and dressed in silence. When Max moved towards her to give her an apology hug, she pushed him away.  
"I just need space from you for now, Max. I don't even want to look at you right now."

"Concentrate, Robyn!" Charlie Fairhead sighed. It was bad enough that Rita Freeman had suddenly transferred to the night shift without a good reason for it, and now Robyn was being gormless.  
"Sorry, Charlie. It's just that I've come to a huge decision."  
"To be a better nurse? Well done you. Start from now" snapped Charlie.  
His reply stung but it couldn't crush Robyn's euphoria altogether.  
She was going to the theatre again after her shift, to see if there was a spare ticket for 'Phantom'. If she was successful, even better, but if the theatre really was sold out, she would go and have a coffee in McDonalds, take one of her favourite paperbacks and then wait till the show was over.  
Then she would tell Caleb just how much she loved him.

(


	18. Chapter 18

After a sleepless night and some soul-searching, Lily made a decision. If Ethan came to visit her again she would tackle him about what she'd seen.

Max and Zoe, too, had sleepless nights. Zoe felt that she could never forgive her lover's suggestion that their child should be put up for adoption. Especially when surely vampire parents were the best people to understand vampire babies and their needs. He really was an idiot, and she didn't feel up to talking to him yet. Max just lay and faced the wall. He felt deeply ashamed of what he'd said and knew it would never be forgotten. And if he was going to live forever it would be a terrifyingly long time if Zoe left him.

They weren't the only ones thinking about babies. Ben, waking up in his coffin, sighed and attempted to get a little more sleep before the night shift. He'd assisted at a difficult birth a short while back, and hadn't been able to get the image of the tiny baby in her father's arms out of his mind. The tears of joy on the man's face. He and Dylan would never know that kind of joy – and to be honest, would Dylan even want to? He would always be a surrogate father to Dervla, and that was one area where he, Ben, was shut out from. The dog, although not whining any more when he visited, still turned away from him when he visited.

As for Robyn, she had cried herself to sleep and was crying again when she awoke. How could Caleb Knight have been so horrible to her the previous evening? It had all started so well…

The previous night:

Robyn had waited at the stage door, hoping the tic tacs had erased the smell of the three coffees she'd drank from her breath. Caleb had taken his time coming through the crowd and she'd been so impressed by the way he took time to speak to everybody, and how he'd knelt down to chat to an old lady in a wheelchair.

Then it had been her turn.

"Hello again, Robyn. Come to see the show again?"

"I couldn't get a ticket so I just came to the stage door. Caleb… I have to tell you. It's not because you have a great voice or anything like that… Caleb, I love you."

Cal had kept his voice neutral.

"Let's walk a little way."

"Thinking things were going to be fine, Robyn had walked with him.

When they were out of earshot, he'd turned to her.

"I want you to stop pestering me. You're like a silly five-year old banging her spoon on the table for attention. I wouldn't touch somebody like you with a bargepole. Now…" he'd dragged her quite roughly by the arm to a taxi rank and up to the first vacant cab.

"Get in there and if you come sniffing round the stage door again I'll have security remove you. Get it?"

And he'd thrown a ten pound note into her lap through the open window.

Despite the kindly encouragement from the cab driver, Robyn had sat frozen-faced until she got home. Then she just lay on the floor weeping.

Meanwhile, Cal had sent a text to his brother.

"Just had to break my own heart. Need to talk, please."

It was the very unusual 'please' that had sent Ethan hurrying round to his brother's flat.

(


	19. Chapter 19

Ethan snorted in disbelief.

"Her second visit to see you and you told her she was a nuisance? And she believed you? Idiots! But you had to let her down gently, Caleb. You're-"Ethan pulled a face – "Gay for a start."

"Not entirely. I'm bisexual."

"Double abomination! Get away from me!"

"Oh stop being such a bloody Roundhead!" snapped Cal.

"Cavaliers! Lace-wearing fops!"

Cal punched Ethan and his brother responded with surprising force. They rolled around the floor, thumping each other, until they felt honour had been satisfied. Then they sat like two small boys and watched their bruises healing.

"So tomorrow you come round to the hospital just as it's gone dark. Then you should catch her before she leaves."

"But you will-?"

"Yes, you Cavalier weakling, I'll speak to her first."

"Robyn…"

"If this is about your horrible friend, I've done with him." Robyn, still signs of last night's weeping on her face, turned away angrily.

"He didn't mean a word of what he said to you. It was only your second visit to see him, after all. He had to try to put you off him."

"Why, is he gay? Because that's no excuse. Ben's gay and Ben's sweet."

"He… Robyn, you'd better sit down. Have you ever wondered why Caleb Knight will never do matinee performances? Why he never accepts an invitation to appear on an evening TV or radio programme?"

"Sensitive eyes?"

"A little more than that. Robyn…." Ethan took a deep breath, "Caleb's not a person. He's a vampire."

He expected Robyn to run screaming from the cubicle, or to faint. She did neither. She just took a deep breath.

"Well that would explain why he's so secretive in interviews. So… is he like one of these really old people with a young face?"

"He actually lived in the 17th century. He was Henry Purcell's lover."

"Awesome!",grinned Robyn, who had no idea who Henry Purcell was but who knew how to use Google.

"You don't care that he's an abomination?"

"You mean a vampire?"

"I mean…" Ethan sniffed delicately, "Bisexual."

Nothing could bring Robyn down at this moment. Caleb Knight didn't hate her, he was just undead.

Meanwhile Lily Chao wasn't so easily pleased.

"I had to see you, Mrs Beauchamp, and before I start, I will tell you that I have not been drinking and I do not take drugs. You know how I have been off with a virus?"

"Personally I think you're back a little too soon so I'm sending you back after we've had this talk.

"Well… Ethan Hardy came to see me. He brought me treats and a-" Lily looked a little ashamed here "Marie Claire magazine."

"I read it myself. Good escapist fun. Go on."

This was the hardest bit.

"Mrs Beauchamp, Ethan came in his break and stayed the full thirty minutes. He could not have got back across town in time to start his shift…"

"I gave him a little longer" Connie said quickly.

"Mrs Beauchamp, I looked out of the window after Ethan left. I saw him rise in the air and – and FLY over Holby."

Connie had three choices. She could either bite Lily now, drain her to the point of unconsciousness, then erase some of her memory. She could tell her she was talking rubbish and that the tablets for her virus had probably been too strong for her. Or:

"Lily… you're an intelligent woman and deserve the truth. There's a reason half of us are the night shift, why I always wear these dark glasses. Why Ethan likes to cover half his face. Lily, Ethan is over centuries old. He was a supporter of Oliver Cromwell. Caleb, unfortunately, was a Cavalier. They still squabble about that issue."

"All the night shift? Little Ben?"

"Little Ben, as you call him, is quite a good vigilante. He kills the evil members of society now and then. Some men who were kicking an old dog to death. A thief who threatened to dismember an old man. He thinks it's his way of making up for what he became."

"He should help the police!" Lily replied, almost approvingly.

"And end up locked up for scientists to poke and prod at? He's more sense than that. But I can see you're accepting this calmly, Lily."

"One thing is making me very uneasy…"

"We use blood banks. So much goes to waste anyway."

"So I am safe at this hospital?"

"You're more than safe with all of us looking out for you."

Lily nodded then said unsteadily:

"Mrs Beauchamp, that puts my mind at rest quite a lot. But I think I shall take that time off you offered before. I think I need to lie down."

"Good idea, Lily. I'll call you a taxi."

"I'm not sure I'd feel better walking, Mrs Beauchamp!"

Robyn was feeling much better as she walked home. Cal had not only apologised in a really sweet way, he'd presented her with a front row ticket for Phantom for the end of the month, and a huge bouquet of flowers, which he was now carrying for her as he escorted her through the streets.

"I can't believe how calmly you're taking this," he told her.

"Well, I was just so relieved you didn't hate me."

"And you forgive me?"

"I'll let you know when I see how those flowers look in my room!"

Then her laugh turned to a scream as a shape seemed to drop from the roof and land beside them. Cal whipped round and grabbed the newcomer by the throat."

"Calm down, man, I'm one of you. Just a little late to the party. The delicious Mrs Beauchamp knows all about it; I'll be starting on late shift tomorrow."

The stranger held out his hand to shake.

"Jacob Masters, ex civil war veteran – not your Civil War, Lace Boy, the American one. I was a Yankee, of course."

"Name's Jacob Masters. Now let's both escort this pretty girl home, shall we?"

Robyn had to bite her lip not to laugh at Cal's outraged expression.

(


	20. Chapter 20

Jacob quickly became known among the Holby Undead as a pain in the butt. He convinced himself that Connie and Rita just needed the love of a good man and weren't actually gay, which resulted in both of them being very short with him on at least one occasion.

He, like Lily, had the idea that Ben could be very useful to the police if he worked undercover with them. Ben brought up the same argument as Connie had:

"Oh yeah, and as soon as they weigh me up, they'll have me in a padded cell and then in some top-security Government building being pumped full of injections every day to get secrets out of me. No chance!"

Dylan saw the obvious distress on Ben's face one day as he was leaving for Dervla time, while Ben was just starting his shift, asked what the problem was. The next evening when Jacob came in, Dylan cornered him.

"Look, Jason." (Dylan liked to insult those who had annoyed him by deliberately getting their name wrong)

"You've been bothering Ben, haven't you? I've been overhearing things. If you bother him again I shall train my dog to bite off your arm."

Jacob, remembering how big Dervla was, decided to stop nagging Ben. His arm would heal again, true, but he didn't relish the experience of losing a limb.

.At the end of the month, seeing Robyn ready to leave for the theatre, Jacob went over to her.

"Nice lady like you shouldn't be walking through those dark streets."

Ethan stepped forward.

"I'm escorting Robyn to the theatre. You go and do some actual work."

"You know what, Ethan? You always look ill."

"I'm a bloody vampire, I'm not likely to be bouncing with health!"

"You should get your ass to a late night gym, man. Feed from the blood bank first to stave off any unwelcome hunger pangs and then go do a workout. It'll do you good. I can get you a pass to my gym."

"No thank you, and please stop bothering Robyn and myself."

"Bloody little Puritan."

Jacob strode off sulking but was pushing the issue again the following night:

"Go on Ethan, it'd give you something to take that look off your face."

"What look?"

"The one that suggests you've got a poker up your… oh hello Dr Chao."

"You look happy", Ethan said nervously. He'd already been reprimanded for his carelessness in letting Lily see his powers, by Connie.

"I'm going in for the Holby Marathon but I'll need to tone up a bit first. I'm going to join Aces gym next week."

"Hey, that's my gym!" Jacob looked very happy.

"I've changed my mind. I'll join it" put in Ethan recklessly.

(


	21. Chapter 21

Connie and Rita, who were supposedly discussing the new staff rotas, were actually reading a copy of 'Brides' magazine together in each others' arms and feeling just a little bit sorry for themselves.

"I wish…." Rita sighed.

"We don't need vows and commitments. We're together for eternity." Connie reminded her, stroking her hair.

"Mm, I know. But I think it gets to Ben as well, not being able to commit to Dylan. Not that that rascal Dylan's ever going to commit to anybody but that dog of his."

"I, Dylan, take thee, Dervla… to be my barking wedded wife…."

A soft noise behind them. They both hoped fervently it wasn't Ben and they hadn't hurt his feelings. But it was Jacob, smirking all over his face.

"Yo, ladies. What are you reading?"

Connie snatched the magazine away almost defensively and put it in a drawer.

"Hey, chill! If you're gay, you're gay. No big deal. But, seriously, if you want to solemnise your relationship, I know just the guy who could help there."

Connie was trying to look indifferent but Rita was already saying "Who?" in a voice soft with longing.

"Ever heard of the Reverend Jeffrey Collier?"

"A reverend isn't much good to us, Jacob."

"This guy's a little different from your average minister. For a start, he's one of us. He was stoned to death back in the day for having an affair with one of his flock. The sort of nasty thing Ethan Hardy's mob would do."

"If you can't be rude to Ethan's face, don't be rude behind his back, it's cheap."

"Oh believe me, Mrs B, I can be rude to him to his face too. But seriously. Jeff would be an Officiant for you. I can go and talk to him and you and blondie here can look some pretty outfits up for yourselves in that trashy old magazine."

"Don't call me blondie, or I'll break your balls."

"Ooooh!" Jacob gave a throaty little chuckle and went out to speak to the Reverend Collier.

Connie and Rita grabbed the book out of the drawer and began to read it avidly.

Zoe still didn't feel as if she'd forgiven Max completely although they were back to sharing a bed again. There was still a barrier between them, although it was unspoken. To her, she would love this child inside her, no matter how it turned out. He'd never said that in so many words, though. She wondered if a holiday together away from Holby might do the trick.

That night she dropped a lot of brochures on to his lap.

"Any preferences?"

His eyes lit up briefly, but then he sighed.

"Is this to show you've forgiven me or is this a guilt thing because you can't quite forgive me?" he stated bleakly.

She threw the brochure on her lap at him, hitting him with a force that would have killed a human.

The barrier was still up, then.

"Russian! We have to have Russian!" Rita sighed.

"After what they did to you-?"

"It was still a beautiful country with wonderful clothes. Oh Connie, do you think this guy will come through for us?"

Charlie put his head round the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, Connie, but there's a Reverend Jeffrey Collier come to see you."

"Please send him in, Charlie."

Two hours and three cups of lemon tea later, all the details had been finalised. Connie arranged for a meeting of the undead.

"As some of you know, Rita and I are partners. We want to make our relationship special so we'll be getting married on the evening of the 31st, at the Cedar Lodge hotel. There'll be a party and entertainment afterwards and you're all invited. It's up to you to bring human partners but I'd prefer only those who are trustworthy.

"Some of US aren't trustworthy any more!" flashed Zoe, and Max sighed and looked down.

"Dylan won't talk about what he's seen."

Ben's happiness was crushed by Ethan saying waspishly:

"He'll cry off unless that mangy hound of his can come."

"Hey Ethan, are you going to walk in with a load of soldiers and whip all the food off the tables?" Jacob countered. Jacob liked Ben, the guy never gave anybody grief, and had noticed his hurt face.

"I'm not a Roundhead any more. I'm sick of Roundhead jokes."

"Ethan" cut in Connie smoothly, "Do you think you could persuade Cal to sing at our party? We'd be honoured."

"Oh I suppose."

"That's fine for a while but we need a disco too" Jacob started taking over again, "I can get one cheap."

Jacob seemed to be able to get a great deal of things at rock-bottom prices.

Suddenly there was the sound of an ambulance arriving. A young woman had been rushed in for an emergency caesarean.

Everybody was mindful of the time, and anxieties ran high. Operating during the night was one thing, but how would they cope with leaving the building and exposure to the sunlight for even just the few steps to a taxi?

They shrugged; they knew their duty and it was to the young mother and her baby.

Thanks to Gypsy Abby for all her help with this and the next chapter.

(


	22. Chapter 22

Thanks again to Gypsy Abby for her medical knowledge. I hope I've done it justice here!

The birth seemed to go well… and then Connie's expression became that of deep concern.

The baby girl was salivating profusely, then she began to cough and choke. The next moment she had started to vomit.

"We'll have to operate, Lisa" Connie informed the exhausted mother.

"My baby! Please not my baby."

"It's okay. We can help your baby but you need to remain calm and be there for her when she comes round, so I'm going to give you a sedative. Then Max will take you to a side ward and look after you."

Lisa struggled, then sighed and gave in as the injection Connie had given her took effect. Max wheeled her away carefully.

"Rita, with me. Ben, I need you as well. Ethan…"

Connie gave out instructions calmly, despite her inner anxiety. An operation for Tracheo-oesophageal fistula wouldn't be a five minute job but without it the baby would have no chance of survival.

Anaesthesia was given to keep the baby pain-free.

Then Connie made a cut in the right side of the small chest, between the baby's ribs, and identified the fistula which she traced towards its entry into the trachea, where it was divided.  
The fistula between the oesophagus and windpipe was then closed with fine interrupted sutures. It was obvious that this little girl would be spending a lot of time at Holby in the next few weeks but the procedure had gone well so far.

Finally Max was able to tell Lisa that her baby would live, but that there was a chance that future surgery would be needed.

"They'll have to see how she copes, but she'll need to be incubated to prevent infection. Mrs Beauchamp will tell you more."

Max patted the girl's hand.

"Now you're not to worry. Mrs Beauchamp knows just what she's doing. Okay, I'm going to let you sleep for a while now, Lisa, but I can assure you your baby's safe."

His eyes were drawn, against his will, to the pulse in Lisa's neck. Praying she wouldn't say "Don't leave me!", he excused himself and bolted down to the blood bank, where Zoe was already feeding.

"Zoe… I have to tell you. That baby… she's a little miracle. Zoe, I don't give a damn whether our child is human or vampire, I will love and protect it all my life. Okay?"

"All your life? Max, you do get that's eternity, don't you?"

"Oh I don't care, and I still would. Zoe, can you forgive me?"

"Oh I think so. It's been cold in that spare room."

They hugged.

Max went back to Lisa, who was now looking peaceful but exhausted.

"What's your name?" she asked him.

"Max."

"Maxine. Maxine Constance. That's the baby's name."

"Awesome!"

The question of how they would get home safely was raised.

"I can take three other people home when we leave. I'll leave little Maxine in Dr Keogh's capable hands when he arrives. My car's got tinted windows so there'll be no problem."

She made a decision.

"Rita, Ben, Ethan. You'll come in my car. We can run to the car and keep our heads down. Taxi for Zoe and Max, again, they'll need to run but I'll have it come as close to the door as possible."

"I see you're favouring the Roundhead over me!"

"Grow up, Nurse Masters. I'd back you against the rising sun any day of the week. And nobody runs faster than you."

"Except the delightful Dr Chao. Boy can that girl sprint!"

Ethan glared at him but didn't react other than that. They were all just tired but relieved that Maxine was for now, out of danger.

Running with their heads down, Connie and her passengers soon reached the car.

They dropped Ben off first.

"Wow! Can we come round and visit?" Rita gasped.

"It's very lonely. I sleep mainly; in a coffin. Thanks for the ride home Mrs Beauchamp, see you this evening."

With that, Ben ran to the door and was inside. There was no time to stand on ceremony. Exposure to sunlight could cause at the least, a nasty burn which left a scar, at the worst, a slow agonising death.

Having delivered Ethan to his typically austere flat, Connie and Rita made for their own home and managed to avoid any painful damage.

"Oh, that little baby, though" sighed Rita.

"We see hundreds but that little one felt so special. Dylan will take care of her and update me on her progress. Now I'm off to bed, are you coming with me?"

"Ooh need you ask?"

The taxi driver wondered why the attractive couple and the athletic-looking guy had raced indoors as soon as he'd stopped, but with a tip that size he wasn't going to raise any objections.

"I've just got off to SLEEP!"

"Oh stop sulking, baby brother. I have to be at the theatre in an hour and I took time out to make sure you were home safely from that op."

"Well, yes, I did. But it's your fault if you want to strut around play-acting instead of having a decent career."

"I take it you don't want me singing at the wedding?"

"The Abomination wedding. I should like you to do it."

"Hah, you've promised them already haven't you? Well, okay – if Robyn's going to be there."

"I shall invite her."

"You ought to invite your pretty little doctor as well."

"Dr Chao is just about learning to look at me again without appearing traumatised, let alone stepping out with me."

"Stepping out!" snorted Cal.

"Be quiet or I'll tell Nurse Miller the wedding's a private affair."

"Little bully."

Ben tossed and turned in his coffin, and finally awoke, grief etched on his pale face. He would have welcomed human tears. His kind couldn't pray but he fervently hoped with all his soul that this dream wasn't an omen. That he – that twisted monster - hadn't followed Ben across the years. Please, not that.

(


	23. Chapter 23

Again, thanks to Gypsy Abby for her medical knowledge.

Little Maxine did need further supervision, but she was in safe hands with Dylan Keogh during the day and Connie on the night shift. Between them they constantly monitored the baby. Maxine's condition required her to have a chest drain, and ventilation, plus antibiotics. After a week the baby's chest drain was able to be removed and slowly but surely she gained weight.

The 31st finally came round. Connie wore a white and gold brocade dress with a tiara from which a veil flowed. Her hair was piled into a loose French knot which made her look even taller. The inevitable heels beneath the dress added to her height. Rita wore a white linen dress with a high waist and a silken sash, and small black boots.

"Oh wow Mrs Beauchamp, are they genuine Russian costumes?" gasped Robyn, who was thrilled to be asked to the ceremony and reception as Caleb Knight's special guest. She herself was dressed in a very flattering peasant costume.

"Copied from them, Robyn. Thank you for coming tonight. We've already – er – dined as we didn't want to nauseate our guests but there's plenty of other food to choose from."

"Lovely!" said Robyn, who would have still smiled if she'd been told there was only sawdust to nibble on after the ceremony. Caleb would be there and she was his guest. His special guest. Shyly she put her gift on the pile on the small table at the back of the room.

"Abomination present for an abomination wedding. I thought it might prove helpful on your abomination honeymoon" said Ethan Hardy, who was wearing a distinctly 30's style suit. The dress code had been "Anything goes."

"You can't fool me, Ethan, you little softie. You're enjoying yourself already."

"Well…. I may stay around and show you creatures how to eat real food."

"But will you dance, Ethan? _That_ is what I want to see."

Ethan turned round to find Lily Chao standing there, looking beautiful in a red and gold Chinese style dress with a Mandarin collar and her hair loose and brushed till it shone.

"I might" he grizzled.

The Reverend Collier, a cheerful good-looking man who had honoured the occasion by dressing as a Russian officer, said firmly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have fifteen minutes. After that, we should move into the main hall."

Ben felt a little pang of sorrow. No sign of Dylan. Maybe he'd not been able to board Dervla or he'd been held up, probably looking after little Maxine.

Then the doctor himself walked in with Dervla on a lead. Round the dog's neck was a very Russian- looking collar. Dylan himself was dressed as a Cossack.

"Fancy dress shop. Why aren't you Russian, Chiltern?" he said cheerfully.

"I thought I'd do the full Lordship thing with suit and tails. Got a top hat to go home in." Ben smiled as he added his wedding gift to the pile but Dylan noticed he looked a little fraught.

Dervla whined at the assembled guests for a moment, then all but ran off with the Reverend who took her to a room filled with an assortment of doggie toys and just enough doggie treats not to make her ill afterwards.

The guests had to admit that Holby Grange was a wonderful venue.

Max and Zoe made their appearance as a Russian couple in false furs and black boots. The furs skilfully minimised the swell of Zoe's belly though Max had told her that it didn't matter to him if she looked as fat as a house. As long as their baby was safe.

Then suddenly a discordant singing was heard and Jacob, in his old Yankee soldier's uniform, swaggered in still caterwauling:

"Sing a merry marching song for General Caleb Knight,

Shot off his big toe and so he didn't have to fight.

He sings like an angel but his uniform is sh*te,

Nothing can stop him from marching."

Ethan walked over to him and grabbed him by the throat.

"Don't you insult my brother! He might be a fool but at least he isn't rude enough to turn up drunk to a wedding."

"Security needed" said Big Mac, moving forward.

"Better let me do it, Mac. He may bite" suggested Reverend Collier.

Jacob suddenly began to cry like a small boy.

"I'm sorry – I shouldn't've come. Been… wondering what to do. It's just … when the woman you love gets married to another girl, you get a bit feisty…"

"Which woman?" asked Connie, who might have been an ice queen but had the same curiosity as any other woman.

"Both of you!" wailed Jacob.

"Come on mate. Let's get you a taxi", said the Reverend Collier kindly.

"Hang on… look, here's a present. I've not snivelled over it, honest…"

Jacob allowed the Reverend Collier to escort him out, and the wedding party moved into the hall where the ceremony was to take place.

Just as Caleb Knight, dressed in full Phantom of the Opera costume, glided in.

The ceremony was, most people agreed, wonderful. Connie and Rita exchanged vows of their own, then the rings, as Caleb sang "Love Never Dies" which he'd converted from its original soprano to a tenor voice. It was strangely appropriate especially the final verse:

"Love never dies, love will continue.

Love keeps on beating when life's gone.

Love never ends, love lives within you,

Life may be fleeting, love lives on."

Robyn cried unashamedly and Caleb himself went over to gently wipe her face for her.

Dancing cheek to cheek with Dylan, Ben ventured:

"Maybe you and I one day-?"

"Don't be silly, Ben" said the Doctor, though his tone was gentle, "When I die you'll be in pieces for the rest of eternity. It's a long time to grieve. Better we both stay free. And, no, I'm not going to let you bite me."

"If I really wanted to I wouldn't need your permission. But you're the last person on this earth that I'd harm" Ben replied, his tone subdued.

"Come on then, back to the dancing. Look, it's a jive now. How's your jiving?"

"We didn't have that in Victoria's time."

"We'll sit it out then…. Hey, look who wants to dance!"

Dervla, comfortably full of doggie treats and bored of her toys, had come running in.

"Come on Dervla, rock around the clock!"

Dervla had no idea quite what these silly humans wanted from her, but she ran round happily to the music.

"Do you want me to order a taxi to the airport for your Abomination Honeymoon?" Ethan asked but he was smiling as he spoke.

"Yes please Ethan, and – thanks for understanding."

"Oh I'll never understand all this gay nonsense, but I'm just not kicking off about it because you're a good employer."

"Is that why you snivelled during 'Love Never Dies'? asked Rita cheekily.

"I had a speck in my eye."

Connie suddenly tapped on a glass, and thanked everybody for coming to support them. Then Zoe and Max tied a notice to the back of Rita's frock that said 'Forever Married' and off they went on their honeymoon to Scandinavia, which at that time of year would have the shortest daylight hours.

The Reverend Collier smiled at his fee and the generous tip added by the guests.

Everybody else began to order their taxis and the party was over.

"Let me escort you home, Robyn. I don't think our unlucky friend Jacob will be getting in on the act this time", grinned Caleb.

As Ben and Dylan's taxi made its way up to the road that led to the castle, they passed a young woman who was obviously both the worse for wear and a 'lady of the night'.

"Do you want a lift, sweetheart? It's a dark, cold night to be out" Ben offered kindly.

"Not from you two queers" said the girl, with a fine disregard for manners or political correctness.

Ben was still concerned, but:

"Oh very well, then, have it your way" Dylan said grumpily and the taxi went on leaving her careening on the pavement.

With the disregard for any danger to herself, the young hooker tottered through the alleys of Holby.

Then somebody stood before her.

"Hello my dear. Doing business?"

Something in his face unnerved her.

"Not with you!"

"Oh you silly little girl. It's very bad manners to speak to Jack like that!"

Then she noticed the Gladstone bag in his hand, and screamed.

In vain.

(


	24. Chapter 24

The next night shift was all but a skeleton staff. Rita and Connie were on honeymoon, Ethan was paying for his foolish boast about being able to eat human food and was off sick with stomach cramps. Dylan was Temporary Clinical Lead, and was quite sharp with Jacob who was suffering from equal doses of remorse and a hangover. He also gave Ben a lecture when he caught the young nurse standing watching baby Maxine in her incubator.

"No time for that. Pull yourself together, we're here to heal the patients who are in danger, not moon over those who are on the road to recovery."

Ben took the reprimand well and followed the doctor back to the next cubicle. He flung himself into work and actually drew some words of praise from his grumpy lover before the shift was over. Lily Chao came in a little earlier for her morning shift because she wanted to tease Ethan about his dancing, and was disappointed to find he was off ill. She decided to visit him that evening. Then she said almost casually:

"Have you seen the headlines? Terrible."

She passed the newspaper to Ben, who stiffened in shock. A young woman had been brutally murdered by a Jack the Ripper copycat the previous night. She had not yet been identified.

Please, no. Please let it be just a copycat.

"Lily, are you going to visit Ethan tonight?" he asked.

She smiled.

"I'm planning to."

"Let me escort you then."

"Hey" Jacob intervened, putting on his coat, "You've got a guy. You let a red-blooded male escort this young lady."

Ben glared at him.

"I'm going to visit a man known to be a vampire. Two vampires are fighting to take me there. If it wasn't for this poor young woman's death, it would be hilarious", Lily said quietly.

When a photograph emerged, two days later, of the young woman who had been murdered, Ben felt sick. Why hadn't he and Dylan been more forceful?

"Greedy girl" was Dylan's cold verdict, "She refused us because she wanted to try for one more client before she went home. Didn't pay, did it?"

Ben actually shivered.

"How can you…?"

"If it gets that look of guilt off your face and replaces it with indignation, Ben, it's worth it. For some crazy reason you're blaming yourself – and possibly me – for this killing. Now go home and sleep. We'll go back to the houseboat later, Dervla can weep and wail if she gets jealous. Okay?"

Ben nodded, more to try and stop his own dark thoughts than anything else. Please, he thought, please say this is a one-off and – and not HIM following me through time.

And for at least a month it looked very much like a single random murder.

Ethan came back to work and was nagged by Lily about his stupidity as she came on day shift.

"There are starving people in the world and you have to eat something just to show off about it!"

Ethan tried to change the subject:

"How's the training at the gym going?"

"It's going well. But since I train by day and you by night, we're never going to be able to compare notes, are we?"

"Are you inviting yourself on one of my late night sessions, Ms Chao?"

"If you promise to escort me home and not to bite me on the way" replied Lily coyly.

A couple of weeks later, Jacob Masters went too far. He'd been trying to find somebody to annoy all night, and decided Dr Keogh was a prime candidate, Dylan having been forced to stay through the night shift because of his new position and several emergencies on the ED.

"Hey, Dylan!"

"Dr Keogh to you."

"Hey Dr Keyhole! Your dog'd make a brilliant vampire dog. 'Dervla, Hound of the Undead'. What do you say I have a little bite of her later at your houseboat?"

Ben saw the stricken look on Dylan's face and rage, fuelled by the tension within him lately, got the better of him.

He punched Jacob in the mouth.

"Nurse Chiltern! That's a sackable offence!"

They'd both forgotten Charlie Fairhead was still working that shift.

Ben and Jacob cast horrified looks at each other. What now? Ben could either take the consequences and give up his dream of atoning for what he was by helping to save lives. Or… either he or Jacob could erase Charlie's memory. Which would mean…

"I only took enough to put him out for a while" Jacob said, twenty minutes later and full of contrition, "I'll let you do the fun bit, Ben, while my lip heals itself."

Ben went over to poor Charlie.

"You became exhausted by the long shift, and you passed out. When you come round you'll be lying with your feet up in a cubicle." Ben was too ashamed to take any credit so he continued:

"Ethan and Jacob looked after you. Okay?"

He patted the senior nurse's face kindly.

Then Ethan and Jacob hurriedly carried Charlie to a cubicle between them.

"Mrs Beauchamp was hinting that I retired at one time!" Charlie said sorrowfully, "Please don't let her know about this."

"We won't", Ethan replied, adding:

"Dr Keogh's on his way."

Dr Keogh all but pushed Ben out of his way and growled:

"YOU can sleep alone in your coffin for the next two days, you stupid bugger."

"Fine. I'll not defend your dog any more then" Ben snarled at Dylan's retreating back.

Jacob went over to Ben later on their break, but the latter just turned round on him.

"Oh just sod off!"

"Ben, come on, I didn't mean to get you into trouble. Just bad timing."

"And now Dylan doesn't want to know me."

"Trouble with you is that you show your feelings too much. You want to play it cool, mate. Not always be there for him."

Ben tried to do just that over the next few days and Dylan realised just how much he missed his boyfriend.

He can forget flowers, he thought moodily, they'll probably only wither when he touches them anyway.

Next morning just before it got light, as he passed Ben, who was heading for a lonely time in his coffin, he slipped a book of love poetry into the young nurse's hand.

"Now stop sulking, stupid, and come round to the houseboat later."

"I might" Ben growled, but felt good to know that he hadn't got the pain of a broken heart as well as remorse, to cope with.

Lily had made tentative friends with Steffi, one of the girls who was training with her for the Holby marathon.

"Ethan's coming to see me home after this session, he'll see you to your door too if you want."

Steffi knew Lily would nag the daylights out of her if she told her she was going to walk home by herself. Steffi needed a fix and knew just the place in the park where she could meet her dealer.

"Oh that's kind, but my boyfriend's coming to get me; I want to have the full pampering thing as well, Jacuzzi, sauna…"

"Well let me know if you ever want him to see you home."

She turned, smiling, to see Ethan coming through the door and left with him.

Steffi went towards the showers.

"Are you sure nobody can see us doing this?" Lily asked as she clung to Ethan.

"We're too high. How do you like flying?"

"I am still getting used to the absurdity of it all… ETHAN!"

The scream wasn't because she was falling. It was because of what she'd seen miles below her, in the park.

A man in Victorian clothing backing a wailing Steffi into a corner.

And the man certainly wasn't Ben.

"Quick!" she gasped. Ethan was already on to the situation.

He sat Lily in a tree.

"You'll be safe, look, there's a branch to hold on to… right…"

Ethan flew towards the man with the top hat, cloak and large bag.

The man dropped the bag and fled. It was the speed he moved at that worried Ethan.

He went to retrieve Lily safely and then they were both bending over Steffi, who was throwing up on the grass verge.

"He was dressed as… as… " she moaned.

"We saw" replied Ethan grimly.

(


	25. Chapter 25

Robyn was heartbroken. She'd read the paper that morning to see if that horrible killer had struck again. There was nothing reported, but in the entertainment section was an article that turned the day sour and dark for her.

"CALEB KNIGHT TO QUIT UK FOR UNITED STATES"

Caleb Knight, the famous ex West End star, has today announced his intention to accept an offer to play the Phantom of the Opera again in the sequel to the show, "Love Never Dies". Knight finishes his stint at Holby New Theatre at the end of this month and then, he has announced, he will be travelling to the USA where he will be living for at least the next two years. His last week at Holby is a complete sell-out."

He never said a word to me, she mourned, he must be trying to escape from our relationship. I knew it was too good to last, somebody as gorgeous as him wanting me…

She managed to keep working with her full attention throughout her shift; the patients didn't deserve her anger. But when she saw Ethan arriving, she made a beeline for him with the paper.

"Did you know about this?"

"No. I didn't!" replied Ethan in genuine shock.

"That makes two of us then" replied Robyn grimly.

As soon as his break came, Ethan was over to the New Theatre. Cal had just gone on stage. That meant an hour and a half before Ethan got a chance to speak to him. Well, at least he could make Cal aware of how annoyed he was with him.

The 'Phantom of the Opera' duet began. Marsha was surprised to see a boatman sitting there, usually it was the Phantom who ferried her across the lake. Cal was even more surprised. But, when Marsha's back was turned and unseen by the audience, Boatman Ethan was holding up a piece of card with "What's all this about America, you little shit?" on it. Cal missed a couple of notes and forgot his exact lines.

As he slunk off stage, knowing by the look in the producer's face that he was in for a lecture, Cal vowed to pay back his rotten Roundhead brother for this.

Ethan went back after the show and cornered Cal before the latter could slink away.

"America? Really? Robyn's been sobbing her heart out because of your rotten plans!"

"Why?" said Cal, deliberately being awkward, "Doesn't she want to go?"

" _What?"_

"When she comes to the show this Wednesday night, I'm planning to ask her to come with me."

"You'll ask her tonight, Caleb, I'm not going to have her in pieces for a couple of nights. Get it?"

"Ooh, my baby brother growing a pair! Well… okay. But I did want to make the big announcement in The Satin Lounge."

"Den of iniquity! Oh… that reminds me" said Ethan, "Either there's a copycat killer out there or Jack the Ripper's followed Ben through time."

He said it as casually as if he'd said "By the way, Charlie wants to borrow your Spiderman DVD."

"I hope not. Oh Ethan, I hope not for Ben's sake!"

The producer had a word with Cal next day and Cal fabricated a convincing enough story about it being a crazed fan who'd played the unnamed boatman and that he could assure the producer that nothing like that would be allowed to happen again. His personal security was on to it. Because of Caleb Knight's status in the musical theatre world, no more was said on the subject.

"Robyn – please hear me out and don't put down the phone."

"Well, seeing as this is likely to be our last conversation, okay. I'll be burning my ticket for Phantom, though."

"Please don't. I had a big surprise planned for you after the show on Wednesday but Ethan's convinced me I should tell you straight away."

"Oh I know about your big surprise, Caleb. Off to America, are you?"

"I was hoping it might be two of us going to America. I was going to ask you after the show in two days but Ethan won't let me keep you on a string till then."

Silence.

"Robyn? ROBYN?"

"There'll be documents to sign. A Visa. All kinds of red tape."

"I can sort all that out. You can have an entry document without going through any of that."

"No, Caleb."

"You're turning me down?"

"I'm turning down the shortcut. If I start applying properly and legally from tomorrow I should still have time. I want to do this properly."

"All right… that sounds fair. But will you promise me if your application's turned down or lost in the post, you'll let me cheat a bit?"

"I should say no but…. Oh Cal, I'm so happy!"

Max and Zoe cornered her after she finished her shift.

"We're under orders. You're not to go home alone. We've arranged to start our shifts a little later, but we're taking you home first."

"Because of that serial killer guy?"

"Lily and Ethan saw him last night. They managed to scare him away but he'll be back again."

Robyn shuddered.

She shuddered even more when her stepmother Greta called her the next day.

"I got your text. Fancy thinking you can run off to America, Robyn! You can't even look after yourself properly over here, let alone in another country. You're not going."

"I am! I'm old enough and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"I can refuse to sign essential documents…."

"You've never wanted me to be happy since you split from Dad! Other people will sign for me."

"You want a fight about this trip to America, you'll get one!"

"You keep out of my life, Greta. And incidentally, I'm not going on a trip. I'm going to live there with Caleb."

"I'm coming over to this hospital right now to make you see sense."

Much as she loathed Greta's interfering way Robyn had to try to warn her:

"If you have to come, take a taxi. Don't walk through the streets. It's after ten."

"Taxi! No wonder you've never any money to spare."

Robyn heard the phone switched off abruptly.

Greta was stalking though the park, barely taking time to enjoy the sight of the street lights which had been arranged so they illuminated the branches of the trees, or the flowerbeds by moonlight. She came to the deserted playground and snorted, remembering how Robyn would never try anything more adventurous than the swings.

"Are you going somewhere, Madam?"

Greta turned round. Some idiot student in fancy dress trying to bar her way.

"To see my daughter. Please let me pass."

"Now let's not be hasty…"

Greta saw the Gladstone bag in the 'student's' hand.

"Of all the sick costumes to choose. Jack the-"

Her voice choked off on a scream as the knife went into her gut.

A/N Well what can I say? Never before have I been lucky enough to discover a truly obnoxious character who's also helped me to find a much -needed plot link.

"No… it's not safe for people at the moment.

(


	26. Chapter 26

"I shouldn't even care because I can't say we're close, and she was trying to stop me going to America, but she's not answering her phone, Honey."

Robyn sipped her Skinny Latte a little distractedly.

"She'll be sulking, sweetheart. You let her come round first."

"But when she sulks, she bombards me with messages. I hope she's okay. Oh my G- Honey, I told her to get a taxi to come and see me last night, and she sneered at me. What if she's been…"

"Don't even think that way, Robyn. I must say I like the security idea. But I can't understand why it's just the day shift who get escorted home. Surely the night shift are in even more danger?"

A little smile came to Robyn's lips as she thought of saying to Honey:

"Ah well that's because the night shift are all vampires. It explains why they never buy anything from you."

"I wish Ethan Hardy liked coffee. He's gorgeous. I'd love him to come to my shop and chat a bit."

"Ethan's got strange tastes" Robyn said, stabbing about for a reason to change the subject.

And then she had one.

"Just to let you know" said a cold voice behind them, "Ethan Hardy and I are already – I believe the word's an item?"

"Oh Dr Chao, I'm so sorry."

"Well, as long as you know where things stand. But you're right about him not being a coffee drinker."

And then, the strangest thing happened. Lily Chao actually winked at Robyn, who couldn't help grinning back.

"Black coffee, Honey, and hurry up with it. I'm just on my break."

Honey sighed and made the coffee for the lucky woman who was going out with her current idol.

Robyn made her way to the ED to find Dr Keogh staring gloomily at a newspaper headline.

"Another one."

"Believed to be a middle aged woman. He's not just attacking tarts this time" said the non-politically correct Dr Keogh. Then he sprang into action.

Robyn had fainted.

Dylan felt sick afterwards. This news was going to make Ben even more edgy. Surely he couldn't really believe that Jack the Ripper had followed him through a time slip and even so, it wasn't the young fool's fault. But the guy was just a copycat, Dylan was sure of it.

"I need to go to the police and at least make sure it's not her."

"I'll take you. I have a break soon and goodness knows, people are coming back from their breaks at the strangest times lately."

Robyn would never forget the nausea that had welled within her when she'd seen Greta in the mortuary. Even though the ugliest details of the case were hidden under the sheet, it was still the most sickening thing she'd experienced. Her stepmother had been a bitch but hadn't deserved this. She was escorted to the ladies and was violently sick, then was given a sedative by the prison doctor and taken home in a taxi – WHY hadn't Greta taken a taxi? – by Dylan.

"I'll let Dr Hanna know you'll not be in, and the reason why, if you're all right with that. Now will you be all right till Caleb joins you?"

Robyn suddenly screamed:

"Where WAS Caleb last night? Or Ethan? Or Ben? Zoe? Max? Any one of them could have stopped this happening. Why weren't they there for her?"

Then she began to sob in Dylan's arms.

Her dream of going to America looked like being over.

Night fell. Ethan arrived early for his shift and explained that he'd come to see Honey got home safely. Lily glared at him.

"What about me, Ethan? I need taking home too."

Jacob sauntered over, having also come along early.

"Hey, no worries. I'll see Sweet Honey to her door and you can look after the lovely Dr Chao here."

"Good idea" said Lily, cracking a smile.

Jacob escorted Honey home and even gave a little bow and kissed her hand before he left. She giggled but it didn't seem that there was any chance of her forgetting Ethan and concentrating on him, Jacob, instead.

On the way back, Jacob decided to go through the park – a few hundred feet above the ground – to see if the Ripper copycat was lurking anywhere. Please, he thought, let me at him! As he reached the kiddies' paddling pool looking like a tiny bowl of water below, his arm was grabbed and he found himself forced to land.

"You. Vamp boy. A message from Jack. Tell Ben Chiltern he's the only one who can end this. He knows how."

The adversaries glared at each other, and Jacob knew, much as he wanted to, it was useless for him to retaliate. He could always recognise one of his own kind. But he had no intention of passing on the message to Ben. He knew what 'action' would have meant and he wasn't going to let that happen. They'd just step up the vigilante work in future. He gave a non commital nod and the creature rose into the air, vanishing out of sight.

"Cal, I can't go. It's impossible. There's been a murder in my family and my place is here. Whatever my stepmum was, she was a relative. This won't be over by the end of the month; you'll just have to fly out without me. I – I can't possibly concentrate on all those forms and documents, either."

Cal hugged her.

"I don't expect you to abandon your family, sweetheart, and I know you won't want to fill out those forms. But don't think you'll be forgotten. There will be a day when this guy's caught. And when that happens, you text me, whatever time of day or night it is, and as soon as it's safe for me, I'll fly across and take you back again. The cheat's way."

Despite her misery, there was a real shred of hope and wonder. Cal loved her enough to come and get her; he could have had a really pretty talented girl but he'd chosen her.

As she snuggled into his arms, she felt that the darkness was slowly moving away.

Meanwhile, Ben's nightmares became more graphic and threatening. When he was alone, he paced the floor, if he was sleeping on the houseboat with Dylan, the latter would awake to see and feel Ben, eyes wild, chest heaving, coming painfully out of his nightmare.

(


	27. Chapter 27

A/N In this story, Greta was Robyn's stepmother but no relation to Max, as here Robyn and Max are friends rather than brother and stepsister. Besides, Vampire Zoe would have eaten Greta for breakfast if she'd got too gobby with her!

Dylan finished his drink.

"Neat whiskey, Dr Keyhole? Naughty boy."

"YOU can keep your mouth shut, Nurse Masters. And if you ever call me Dr Keyhole again I will rearrange that handsome face of yours."

"Pulling rank are we?"

Dylan slammed down his glass.

"Go and **** yourself – although, with your ego, you'd probably enjoy it! I'm going home."

"Let me walk with you Dr Keogh" Ethan put in, "We don't know yet that this creature only attacks the ladies."

"Oh go on then" was the not very gracious reply as they left the pub.

"So how's Ben? He's a decent lad, it's a shame he's rattled about something."

"He's having bad dreams. He won't tell me about them, but he wakes up gasping and on the verge of tears. I told him to take a night off and catch up on some sleep."

"Do you fancy finding somewhere else to drink now that we've got that idiot off our backs? I could do with another."

"Alcohol only masks problems, Dylan, it doesn't solve them. But as you're under stress… okay."

"So you weren't in America in the 30's" Dylan kept his voice low for obvious reasons, "I could see you upholding prohibition."

"No I did more of that as a supporter of Cromwell." Ethan suddenly began to giggle.

"Oh Dylan, you should have seen their faces when we marched into the houses and took away the Christmas meat! Priceless!"

"So austerity floats your boat? Maybe you should sleep in a cardboard box tomorrow night!"

Ethan giggled so hard at this that he almost fell off his chair.

Nevertheless he was still able to see Dylan safely on to the houseboat after taking him home, adding a spot of vigilante work on the way. Dylan, "off his face" as the saying goes, stumbled through the door and said lovingly:

"How's my little Dervly Wurvly Woo?"

Ben's face changed from fraught to laughing hysterically in seconds.

"Oh Dylan, my sweetheart, you are going to have such a hangover tomorrow. Come on, you need a quick ride by night to sober you."

"Been with effin' Ethan. He's dead boring when he flies. Not like you my little curly Scallop Bag… Scallywag… Oh Ben, I'm going to throw up!"

Ben grabbed him and got him on deck before any major damage was done. Then he washed the doctor's face and helped him to bed, after which he sat and laughed almost hysterically at the whole situation.

It was probably the last time he was going to laugh in the next few days.

"Postcard from Mrs and Ms Beauchamp" announced Charlie, who wasn't quite sure what to call the couple. Eager hands were held out but it was Zoe who got there first. She read out:

"Dear all

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful. Some gorgeous sights here in Finland. Hope Jacob is behaving himself and that Max and Zoe spend a little time with the patients in between finding cubbyholes to play in. We know all the tricks, you can't fool us!

Might extend the holiday a little so make sure you do what Zoe and Dylan tell you.

Take care,

Rita and Connie Beauchamp."

If they'd returned on the original week they'd planned, maybe things might have turned out differently.

"Oh come on Honey, you're like a wet blanket lately ever since you fell for that stupid doctor" her friend Melanie whined.

"I don't like that area near that club, it creeps me out. And you know what's been happening lately."

"We can't let serial killers win by staying home and being scared" sneered Melanie.

"I'd rather go home after my shift and read a good book. That nice Jacob Masters will see me home if I ask him."

"Who is this old woman and what have you done with Honey?"

"Oh all right. Fine. But I'm leaving at 1am. Some of us have jobs to go to later."

"Bitch!"

Melanie played the 'you've got a job and I'm still looking' card all evening, guilt-tripping Honey into paying for her drinks, until the latter had had enough.

"I want to go home now, I'll order us a cab."

"At this time?"

"I'm tired, Mel. All right?"

"Oh all right, but I can't afford-"

"I'll pay for the bloody taxi."

She couldn't have known, when she dialled the number, that the cab driver who set out to meet them had been drained without mercy and flung into the bushes by the road.

"Ooh you're sexy. Are you for us?" simpered Melanie at the driver, who nodded tersely.

"Take me home first, then, I'm nearer than her. Wallace Avenue."

Another nod.

"Hey!" screeched Melanie half an hour later, "You've gone right past my street, you moron!"

She and Honey clung to each other screaming as he turned round to show them his face.

"Taking you to see a friend, Honey Bun. As for your mate…"

Melanie's corpse was flung out of the cab as Jack strode towards them. Honey was too afraid to scream now, she was shaking.

"You could be a very lucky girl. You could be the one Jack the Ripper sets free. It all depends on what that cowardly nurse from your hospital decides to do." Jack turned round to a thuggish-looking man lolling in the alleyway.

"Take a letter Mr Smith…."

"Dear Noel

You don't know me but I know you. How trite a beginning is that? We have your daughter and I have some exquisite ways that I can kill a young woman. Tell that coward Ben Chiltern to stop hiding out to save his pretty skin, and to come here by dawn tomorrow. If not, I shall experiment on little Honey. Don't forget to ask Benjamin, now.

Yours respectfully

Jack, known as The Ripper."

(


	28. Chapter 28

Warning: Two major character deaths.

Noel was becoming concerned. Honey didn't skive off work if she could help it; she appreciated her job and gave it 100 per cent. Besides, he thought, with a grimace, she'll want to come to work to see Ethan, even though he's obviously after Lily Chao.

"Oh. Noel. Forgot to tell you, a pale ugly guy gave this to me earlier."

Noel would never forget Louise's tone there, bored out of her skull. He would come to loathe her for this.

He read the note and Louise backed away from him, he was clenching his fists.

"How long have you had this for?" he rasped.

"About half an hour-"

"You useless little bitch" he snarled at her and suddenly went charging up to Charlie Fairhead.

"Is Ben Chiltern in yet?"

Dylan strode over.

"What's the problem?"

"Where is he? Your boyfriend?"

"On his way in, I expect…"

"Well he's a f***ing coward and when he comes in, I'm going to beat the crap out of his pretty face-"

Charlie laid a hand on Noel's arm which the latter shook off like a terrier shaking off a rat.

"Noel, calm down or I'll have to call security."

"That serial killer's got my daughter", Noel yelled in his face.

A small child in reception began to sob nervously. Robyn ran to comfort her.

Big Mac, seeing Noel was ready to hit Charlie, came over.

"Take him to a private room, Mac. I'll come and talk to him, but he calms down or nobody helps him, right? This is a hospital and he does not scare the other patients."

Noel suddenly crumbled.

"I'm sorry. But he's got my Honey…."

"Come on mate. Charlie'll know what to do", Big Mac soothed as he led Noel away.

But I don't, thought Charlie despairingly, "I don't even know what the hell's going on."

"You wanted to see me?"

Ben walked into the room and Noel leapt at him, grabbing him by the throat, shaking him.

"You coward! What is it you're mixed up with, drugs? My little girl…" he shoved the note into Ben's face.

"Read that, you little shit, then I'm going to stuff it down your throat and choke you with it."

Dylan strode in as Ben, shivering, read the note.

Noel was suddenly on Ben, punching him in the face until Dylan pulled him off the young nurse.

"This isn't helping-"

"Shut up! He's got himself involved with drug takers and …."

"It isn't drugs and it's me you need to beat up."

Noel let Ben fall to the ground as Jacob entered the room.

"I never gave him the message, Noel. Because I thought we could handle it, all of us, together. Ben would have given himself up immediately if he'd known."

Noel was now weeping in shame and confusion as Ben's cuts and bruises slowly healed.

Jacob grabbed him and bit him. Dylan turned away in disgust.

"Ben's going to get Honey back. He's going to negotiate. That's all you need to know", Jacob told the unconscious Noel.

Dylan, eyes heavy with misery, asked Ben:

"So what exactly do you have to do to get Honey back to Noel?"

"Basically, I die" Ben responded, his voice flat with grief and unease.

"You can't die. I staked you and nothing happened."

"That's not how we die. The only way to kill one of us is to expose us to the rising sun until we burn alive. It's not pretty and there's no way I'll be going to eternal peace afterwards."

"Jacob – don't let him!"

"I can't do anything, Dylan. All I can do is go along to make sure Jack gives Honey to me safe and sound."

"In that case, I'm coming. I'm sticking with you till the end, Ben."

"NO!"

"I'm not asking, I'm telling. I want to know for certain you're… gone."

Jacob grabbed him roughly.

"Then you stay out of sight with me, Dr Keyhole."

They walked out of the hospital and were soon lost in the sky over Holby.

Honey was freezing and almost inarticulate with fear. Jack – if that was his real name – had been telling her some crazy, frightening things.

"If another vampire follows one through a time slip he can only return to his own time by killing the one he followed. I'm bored of this world now, they solve cases too easily here so I can't torture the law any more. I want to go back to my own time. Now, if Ben has the guts to come here within the next half hour, one of my little friends here is bound by oath to return you safe and sound. If he doesn't, I shall start making some very nasty cuts. I needn't tell you what state you'll be in when you're returned to darling daddy Noel."

"Let her go. I'm here."

Ben landed on the roof.

"I'm so sorry, Honey."

Honey just stared at him, this was too much to take in and she hadn't the words.

"I've come to take her home." Jacob landed softly beside Ben.

"That's fair. But somebody else has cheated."

Ben recognised the creature who had spoken. Part of the gang who'd been attacking Hollow Guts.

His friend was dragging Dylan forward.

"The human burns."

"You forget sunlight won't hurt me." Dylan's voice held no triumph, just weariness.

"Oh it will if you're forced to stand with Ben. Once he burns he'll set you alight too."

Dylan turned to Ben, who expected the doctor to spout venom at him.

"Better with him than without him. Ben, you moron, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I can't hate you."

Ben glided over to Dylan and held out his arms.

"Awwww!" sneered the vampire thug.

Ben embraced Dylan… and then calmly snapped his neck. Dylan was dead before he realised what had happened to him. Honey fainted as Jacob gathered her up in his arms.

"NOW you can burn us, he's beyond pain."

"Do you promise to just wait there like a good little boy? That little human slut isn't safe until you're a pile of ash. We could still come back for her."

Ben's eyes, huge with misery, told Jack his answer.

He knelt, cradling Dylan to his heart, as the sun began to rise. Jacob pressed Honey's face into his chest so she couldn't see the worst, and flew away with her into the dark recesses of the streets, back to the hospital and her father.

Jack smiled like a cat that had the cream, and vanished back into the world from which he'd come.

And Ben's body was consumed by flame. He moaned, and the moans became shuddering screams of torment. Torment that he knew would last for eternity. Where else could a vampire go but hell?

Finally the ashes blew away with the cold morning wind. Ben was gone.

Over in Finland, in their luxurious hotel room, with Rita in her arms, Connie knew instinctively what had happened. She had always been able to sense when one of their kind had been destroyed. She shook with grief, but her eyes were dry.

"Darling?"

"Oh, Rita… Ben's dead."

(


	29. Chapter 29 Aftermath

Disclaimer: This is all pure fantasy so I hope I don't offend anybody's theological views here. Also hope the first bit's not too mushy.

They were walking through an impossible landscape, with green fields heavy with wild flowers leading through lush green forests that led down to a promenade by the sea, where a small old fashioned fairground was seen on the pier and illuminated lights hung in the streetlamps. In the ornate bandstand, a lively march was playing.

Ben and Dylan, wearing the striped blazers and trousers, white shirts and straw hats of the early Edwardian age, made their way towards the promenade.

"Dylan? Why aren't we in hell?"

"Maybe because I'm the innocent party in all this, Chiltern. And maybe – just maybe – whatever power's out there rates compassion and loyalty pretty high."

Ben looked almost shy and changed the subject.

"I like your fields and forests."

"I might want to escape there if that ruddy band doesn't stop playing."

His face became concerned.

"Did it hurt much, Ben?"

Ben smiled serenely.

"I don't remember pain."

"Nor do I. Which is a disappointment as I wanted to bawl you out about breaking my neck."

"You know why I did that."

"I've had better foreplay."

Dylan suddenly winced as if he was in pain. A couple of entertainers in the bandstand were singing a duet.

"Gilbert and Sullivan? Ben Chiltern, don't tell me that your idea of heavenly music is Gilbert and sodding Sullivan?"

Ben looked shamefaced.

"It's what I grew up with."

Dylan began to mock the words the pair were singing:

"Heighdee, Heighdee, misery me, lackadaydee,

She messed with Max on the railway tracks and now she is having a bay-beeeee."

"Do you think they'll all be okay?"

"If they're not as stupid as we were. Oh Ben, don't look crushed. It was a joke. You know I love you."

But Ben's attention was caught by the figure shambling through the fields. At first he thought, please, not Dervla, don't say she's pined for him. But this dog was older, a black and tan in colour, and was plodding towards them resolutely.

"It is! It can't be, but… Oh Dylan, it is! It's Hollow Guts!"

As the old hound finally made it to where Ben stood, and balanced on its hind legs, covering his face with ecstatic tongue kisses, Ben Chiltern finally knew peace. He and Dylan stood arm-in-arm knowing they had all the time in this world to love.

SIX MONTHS LATER

"Come on, me beauty" Big Mac crooned to Dervla as he led her on her walk, "You'll soon be going into doggie day care while your new Dad – that's me – goes on a big aeroplane across the sea."

Dervla's expression clearly said "Cut the baby talk."

"New York, New York, a wonderful town" sang Robyn as Cal came through their New York apartment in just a bathrobe. After the serial killer had mysteriously disappeared after Ben and Dylan's deaths, there was no longer a reason to stay in Holby, and Robyn had given in and chosen 'the cheat's way', letting Cal forge the paperwork and fly with her to New York. Robyn had to admit it beat messing about with the customs.

The story given out was that the killer had pushed Dylan off the roof and then, after cutting Ben's throat, had set fire to him to destroy the evidence, but that then the police had arrived and he'd let Honey go. The undead knew better.

Robyn still wept for her friend and her favourite doctor but was slowly finding peace and happiness in America. Cal had been approached with a view to a role in Hollywood, but had wisely decided to stick with what he knew and not to tempt fate. He could have any Broadway role he wanted with little more than a snap of his fingers.

The Reverend Collier's services had been called out on two more occasions, first for a private memorial ceremony for Ben and Dylan, and then to officiate at Robyn and Cal's wedding. Ethan, maybe encouraged by his first taste of alcohol – "when you take Ben and Dylan into account a sip of neat whiskey isn't going to cause much mayhem."

The amount Ethan had glugged had been a lot more than a 'sip' but he'd proved on this occasion that he could enjoy human food and drink if he was careful. Ethan and Lily had a booking with the Reverend themselves at the end of the month. Their 'stepping out' had become more serious and they wanted to cement their relationship properly.

Max held little Mina Dilys Walker close.

"Aren't you just the loveliest baby ever?"

He and Zoe, who had flatly refused to marry to placate the righteous, which had at first included Ethan, were so relieved their baby was mainly a human one. No mercy dashes to the blood banks for her food, and the sight of her greedy, happy little face when Zoe was breast-feeding her was a joy. They'd called her 'Mina' as a kind of diminutive of 'Benjamin' and honoured Dylan with her middle name, Dilys.

Jacob Masters had settled down after a long lecture from Connie about interfering with what he knew to be unchangeable. He'd become a quiet, responsible man who, though he loved to 'let his hair down' at parties, cared more for his wife Honey and their twins than flirting with every available female.

"It'll be good for us all to go and visit Cal and Robyn when Mina's big enough to travel" Connie told Rita as they lay in each others' arms in Ben's castle, which they'd decorated in a more feminine style, knowing the generous Ben wouldn't have objected.

"I wish we could all be going" sighed Rita, "Dylan would have found so much to moan about in America and Ben would have been like a wide-eyed baby with it all. Oh Rita… I hope they're not in in hell."

"I know they're not. They're at peace somewhere."

"But how? How do you know?"

"I've seen some of the others, the ones who tried to hurt me when I first became what I am, in nightmares. I know where _they_ are. But I've only ever seen Ben and Dylan in my dreams."

THE END

NEXT TIME…. SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

(


End file.
